


I See The Light

by SherlokiOfPigfarts



Series: Disney/Fairytale Coldflash [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tangled (2010) Fusion, Disney, Disney AU, Fluff, M/M, Mild Blood, Mild Gore, Romance, Tangled AU, alternative universe, coldflash - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2018-11-29 01:25:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11430276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlokiOfPigfarts/pseuds/SherlokiOfPigfarts
Summary: Tomorrow night the lights will appearJust like they do on my birthday each year.What is it like out there where they glow?Now that I'm older, father might just let me go.Kept in a tower for a long as he can remember, Barry wishes to see the lights that appear on his birthday every year. Finally, when the thief Leonard Snart finds his way to his tower, he takes the risk to fulfil his dream. However, neither one expects to find something more, though they just might be what the other needs.Coldflash Tangled AU





	1. All Those Years Living In A Blur

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Я вижу свет](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14169024) by [Rosy_Warner](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosy_Warner/pseuds/Rosy_Warner)



> This is the second of my disney coldflash series so if you haven't read my Beauty and the Beast AU you can check that out in my works :)
> 
> Please comment, kudos, subscribe, and most importantly enjoy

“Once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens. From that drop of sunlight grew a magical golden flower. The magic was given to this world by the Speedforce and was meant for those who could use it for good. That magic now lies in you Barry. It’s what gives you your speed and healing powers. But there are people who will try to take this power from you.”  
“Why would they do that, Papa?”  
“Because people are not like you and me. The world is full of cruel people who won’t want to be kind like you, but will want your power for evil. That is why we stay up in this tower. Do you understand now why you must never leave, Barry?”  
The six year old looked up at the man he believed to be his father. As they sat in their tower, far from the world around them, the boy knew why he had to stay, but it didn’t cease that small voice telling him that the world out there was where he belonged.  
He looked out the window from where they sat at the top of the tower and watched as the sky lit up like it always did on his birthday. Various orbs of light scattered the night sky and floated above the trees, so even though they were far from civilization, Barry could still see the golden lights riding on the wind. He wanted nothing more than to know them, learn what they really were. Everything he knew about the outside world was awful, all except the beautiful lights. Maybe one day he would see them, but for now he knew he had to stay with his father. He had to stay inside.  
“Yes, Papa.”

 

“What are those lights?” asked the little girl as she sat on her brother’s lap, looking into the darkness that was scattered with bursts of light.  
“Those are lanterns,” the boy replied, holding his sister closer to him. “Every year they light up the sky on this day.”  
“Why?”  
He looked up into the sky and decided any distraction from their situation would be welcomed. “Well, there was once a special flower that could heal the sick. The Queen of Corona was going to have a child when she became ill, so the kingdom searched for the flower. Eventually they found it and saved the queen and she had a son. He was to be a prince, but then he disappeared. So every year they release these lanterns on his birthday. That way, wherever the prince is, he knows he is loved and can find his way home.”  
“Did he find his way home?” she asked, still transfixed on the sky as a child of five would be.  
The boy hesitated. He didn’t want to tell his sister the sad truth that this story hadn’t had a happy ending yet. She was young and deserved to hear some good news. He put on a smile despite it being fake. “No, but that’s the fun part. The story isn’t finished yet. We get to watch it all unfold. We get to be a part of the happy ending.”  
She seemed satisfied with that answer for a moment as she nodded her head which was covered in brown curls, but then paused. “That’s why we left. So we can have a happy ending. Right, Lenny?”  
His heart was heavy in his chest but he nodded back. As they sat in the back of a wooden cart looking out at the road leading away from their hometown and father’s house, the pair held each other closer. The boy looked up between the trees to see the small pieces of light from the lanterns filtering through to illuminate the road. They grew in number as the cart moved towards Corona and further from their old life. He checked behind his shoulder to see that the driver of the cart hadn’t yet noticed the twelve year old stowaway and his sister, before turning back to the girl on his knee. The lanterns reflected in her eyes, a distraction from the bruises on her face.  
Maybe the lights could lead them home too. “That’s right, Lisa. So we can get our happy ending.”

 

_-years later -_

 

Yellow lightning flashed through the tower’s top room when Barry’s feet finally skidded to a halt in the centre of the room. He fumbled to keep him balance as he returned to normal speed and paused for a second with his arms out to check that he definitely wasn’t going to keep moving. When he decided that he had come to a proper halt, he relaxed and looked around the small space he called home. There were only three rooms, two being bedrooms, and Barry had cleaned all of them three times already that morning. He scanned the main room he was in one more time for the smallest chance that there was still something for him to do, but everything was clean as could be.  
He huffed and turned his eyes to the bookshelf. He had read all of them multiple times. He’d already cleaned all the clothes in his wardrobe, and sewn many of the pieces in there over the years. There weren’t enough ingredients to try anymore baking, since he’d spend yesterday making every kind of pie he could. He could play one of the few instruments he had, or learn a new one, but he’d perfected all the music they had, which was very little. He had taught himself chess, but there was no one to play with anyway. He couldn’t find something in the tower that he hadn’t exhausted.  
He finally laid his eyes on the walls of the tower. Every inch was painted over. Vibrant and varied patterns decorated his surroundings, years of delicate artwork. He’d learnt to paint and decided that with so little to paint on, he would make his tower his canvas. Being stuck in a tower all your life meant you had plenty of time to learn how to paint. He’d tried pencil art, finger painting, all of it to pass the time, but painting proved to be a favorite of his. Most of the walls were in yellow and purple, pink and red. Usually, he would use whatever colour his father could get him, but he tried to make a pleasing picture and not just a burst of random colours.  
Barry found no spare space of wall that wasn’t covered in pattern. He was going to give up when he stopped his gaze on the curtains above the fireplace. They hung to cover the wall above the fireplace, he assumed where a tapestry used to be.  
With a surge of lightning and inhuman speed, he was on top of the fireplace with the curtains in front of him. He pushed one plush red curtain back and was relieved to see what he had been hoping for: a plain wall.  
The tower practically shook, and shone with light as Barry bounded from the fireplace up to his room and back in a second, leaving sparks behind him. In a second, the curtains were off the wall and he was stood on the thin Fireplace top with his paint box by his feet. He enjoyed moving with his speed powers, but some activities needed to be done at normal speed or slower, simply so they would last.  
With a new art challenge in front of him, his paintbrush seemed to move by itself. He moved with ease, having painted so much already. It what felt like a moment to him, the space was painted over. With a smile he climbed down to the floor again so he could look at his work, but felt his heart sink a little when he took it all in. With his eyes fixed on the painting, his body seemed to move on its own and he ended up sat in the middle of the floor of the main room, his knees to his chest.  
He had painted the lights. On a dark background, circles of yellow in various shades represented the orbs of light that filled the sky on his birthday. Not for the first time, he had drawn something from out his window that he could see, but not be a part of. He wrapped his arms around his legs which were up against his chest and, as he sat in the centre of the room, he wasn’t sure if the tower for once felt large, or if, alone in that room, he felt small.


	2. When Will My Life Begin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Len does what he does best and Barry asks for a birthday gift.

“That doesn’t even look like me.”  
Len glared at the wanted poster that simply said ‘Snart’ as his name. He preferred going by his last name. It made traveling as a criminal easier with your first name unknown, not to mention that it would spite his father, wherever he was. Len didn’t care. He told himself he didn’t care.  
He ripped the poster off the tree near the gates to Corona and held it both hands. Something was definitely off about his picture. “You’d think that after chasing me so long, they’d learn to draw my face right.”  
He turned to his companions and held it up so they could look. “It’s the nose, isn’t it?”  
The Mardon brothers looked but didn’t seem to care. They simply continued with preparations to enter the kingdom. Len knew the brothers weren’t as fun as Mick or Lisa would be on a mission like this, but he need people that were simply more disposable this time. Mark Mardon was tolerable, he wouldn’t mind working with him again, but Clyde was more of a wild card, and unfortunately they were a pair so Len was stuck with both.  
He rolled his eyes and stuffed the poster into his satchel, making sure to leave enough room for what they were preparing to steal. At least the poster would make Lisa laugh. She always looked good in hers and was very smug about it.   
He leaned against the tree with his back to the brothers, looking into the distance where Corona sat surrounded by water. Getting in would be hard enough, and that was only the first part of the plan. Then again, his ideas were great but never went exactly as he wanted to. It was a good thing he could improvise.  
It was a nice place, Corona, apart from the royal guard that seemed to always chase them. Their leader, Raymond Palmer, was getting ever closer to catching them, so Len was making his plans evermore elaborate just to spite him. He didn’t plan to get caught anytime soon, though Palmer was welcome to try.  
“Ready?” Len yelled over his shoulder. Soon the brothers came to stand next to him and the trio looked over the kingdom one more time before making a move. “It’s time to go to work.”

 

“This is it. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna ask him.”   
Barry paced back and forth through the main tower room thinking how best to ask. There were already small golden sparks flicking off his shoes with every step, his nerves building up. He was rehearsing how the conversation would go in his mind for the fifth time when a familiar voice, the only familiar voice, rang out from outside.   
“Barry, I’m home.”  
Barry’s feet sharply came to a halt and he stopped breathing for a second. His father, Eobard, was back.  
“Coming!”  
He was at the window in a second. With ease he grabbed his father’s hand just as he reached the window and pulled him into the room. “Welcome home, father.”  
Eobard was about to straighten out his clothes when Barry began moving again. In an instant he was swept off his feet and ended up in a chair by the fireplace. Once he was finally still, he sighed and watched Barry scramble round the tower in a flash of yellow as he moved the supplies Eobard had just brought home into their correct places.   
He closed his eyes for a moment. It was exhausting taking care of Barry, especially when raising him had been such an impulsive and last minute decision. The boy wouldn’t stop doing everything at the speed of light, or at least it felt like it to Eobard.   
“Barry,” he called and the boy in question skidded in front of his father and sent any loose papers flying. He stopped, sat on the floor with his legs crossed. Though he was still, he looked ready to fly off again. “You can relax now, son.”  
“Sorry, I just wanted everything out of the way! So! I actually have something to ask you and I know you just go back and it’s a long journey from the tower but I really, really, really-”  
“Barry.”  
He stopped mid-sentence and tried to stop any more words coming out. He didn’t realize how loud he had been speaking till his father replied quietly, “You’re talking too quickly.”  
“Sorry,” Barry said at an awkwardly slow pace. “I just have something to ask you-”  
“Barry,” his father interrupted again, “I’m feeling under the weather. Would you-”  
“Oh! Sure!” He already knew what his father would ask. It was a usual routine for them, but Barry often had his mind running so quickly that he didn’t always remember.   
He took a breath to try and bring himself back to normal speed, in both his movements and thoughts. Once he was calmer, he took his father’s hands in his and closed his eyes.   
Though his speed powers were his favorite, he used his healing powers just as much. He didn’t think twice about using them to keep his father young; with a speedster son, he would need the energy to keep up with him. It wasn’t even difficult to do. All he needed to do was sing.  
_“Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine. Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine.”_  
_“Heal what has been hurt, change the Fates' design. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine. What once was mine.”_  
As he sang, the magic in his veins began to show itself. From his hands, light began to filter through and gleam, illuminating the room and his fingertips. As he held his father’s hands, the healing magic passed to him. Its power sent a rush through his veins like the feeling of air in your lungs after being starved of breath. Any greying hairs on his head began to return to a golden colour and his complexion smoothed out. He was not only healing, but becoming younger with the magic.  
Once Barry’s song was done, Eobard tried to savor the moment but the boy was quickly talking again, though more cautiously this time.  
“So, father. I was going to say...” he knew exactly what he wanted to ask, but somehow the words got stuck in his throat. A small voice in the back of his head told him that his answer would be a firm ‘no.’ Nevertheless, he had to ask, though he couldn’t bring himself to say it. “...it’s nearly my birthday.”  
Eobard signed. He hoped this was all he wanted to say. “I’m aware, Barry. You don’t need to remind me. I won’t forget.”  
He stood up and began walking over to the mirror in the room, wanting to make sure the magic was doing its job. Barry stayed sat on the floor and opened his mouth to speak, but ended up closing it again to think of how best to ask. He did this several times, while his father ran fingers through his hair, before biting his lip. He had the opportunity to ask, and he would kick himself if he didn’t. Eventually, he clenched his fists and spoke up.  
“I want to see the floating lights.”   
Eobard froze in front of the mirror. Barry spoke quickly, so he hoped that he had just misheard him. He turned back to the boy who was sat on the floor, gazing back at him with naive hope in his eyes. “Excuse me?”  
“Well,” Barry made sure to speak slowly. He gradually raised one arm and weakly pointed above him. Eobard’s eyes followed the boy’s hand to see the painting of the lanterns above the fireplace. The spots of yellow paint filtered up as though they were sparks from the fireplace itself. “I was hoping that, for my birthday, you could take me to see the lights.”  
Eobard looked up at the painting, and the excited smile on Barry’s face, and sighed. The young man had always been fascinated with them, much to Eobard’s annoyance. Every year they rose up as a symbol of the truth, a truth Barry could never know. He plastered a fake smile onto his face. “Those are just stars, Barr.”  
“But these are different, Papa! These ones only come out on my birthday.”  
He walked over to his father at a normal pace in the hope that some caution might make him agree with the idea. “I know that you don’t want me going outside, but I can’t help but think that these lights are special. I have to know what they are.”  
He stopped in front of Eobard and hoped he would say yes. When his father stood thinking over the idea, Barry struggled to stay patient, rocking back on his heels a couple of times so he wouldn’t have to stand still. Eventually he couldn’t bite his tongue any longer.  
“Please-”  
“Barry.” Eobard sighed and placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders. Taking Barry out of the tower just wasn’t an option. It was too great a risk when it was already challenging enough to keep him hidden. The older Barry got, the more he wanted to go outside and risk everything he had planned for years. He tried to let the boy down carefully. “I know these...lights mean a lot to you, but we can’t risk you going outside of the tower. There are people out there who will not be as kind as I am.”  
Barry stopped smiling but still had his determination. “But I’m ready! I can handle myself out there.”  
As though to elaborate his point, Barry puffed his chest out and held his chin up so he would be taller. It did little to sway his father though, who gave him the same cold look he had seen many times he had asked to go outside. Eobard looked the boy up and down before softly questioning him. “Are you ready, Barry?”  
His instinct was too say yes, but the sad tone in his father voice made him pause. He diverted his eyes downwards. His feet were bare, paint was drying under his fingernails, and he had bruises on his arm from simply running to fast and bumping into furniture. How would he handle the people outside, if he got hurt with no one even around?  
As he thought about it, he seemed to deflate. His shoulders relaxed and he shrunk from his confident pose back to his usual height. Maybe Eobard was right about him not being ready. With his father looking down at him, he still felt like a child. He wasn’t anymore though.   
“Is there...” Barry hesitated. He had to ask one more time. Maybe he wasn’t ready for the world, but he was ready for the lights, for his dream. “Is there no way you’d let me go?”  
Eobard saw how part of the spark in Barry had died down and knew now was the time to snuff it out. If he could convince Barry to stay now, maybe he wouldn’t ask to leave again. He’d lied to Barry many times, once more wouldn’t hurt, and if it would keep his power safe then it would be worth it.  
“Barry.” He made sure to speak softly and not scare the boy. Staying had to be for his own good, or at least appear so. “I didn’t want to have to tell you this, but you should know. You see the mark on your arm?”  
The question threw Barry off. He nodded and rolled up his left sleeve to see the mark on his arm. Two lines like lightning bolts ran along the inside of his arm, blood red. He hadn’t paid them much attention before because he had had them for as long as he could remember. He didn’t know why his father would bring them up now.  
“Do you know how you got those marks?”  
“I...you said they were stretch marks?”  
Eobard looked at the floor to feign guilt at the lie. It was nothing compared to what else he was keeping from Barry. He moved his hands from their place on Barry’s shoulders to hold his hands. He sat the young man down on the sill of the window he used to leave and enter the tower by and kept his hands in his.  
“When you were young, younger than you can remember, someone tried to take you for your power. They snuck in at night and tried to steal you from me. Luckily, I managed to stop them but...some of your lightning went off and left the mark where they tried to grab you.”  
Barry’s heart sank. His eyes slowly rested on the red scar and he couldn’t pull them away.   
“I should have told you, but I didn’t want to scare you. You are always so interested in the outside world and I thought the knowledge of what kind of people were out there might...ruin it for you.”  
Barry finally looked away from the mark to look at his father and didn’t know what to say. The images his father had described in his childhood of the world outside had always seemed like an exaggeration. But, there were people willing to hurt him and his family for his power, even as a baby. He didn’t want to contemplate what would happen to him if someone did take him.   
Eobard looked back at him with a neutral expression that Barry often saw on his father. The young man couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for wanting to leave, now that he knew why his father feared it so much.  
“I understand why you didn’t tell me,” Barry wrapped his arms around his father’s neck and hugged him in the hope that it would remind him that he hadn’t been taken, that he was right where he was supposed to be. “If there’s anything I can do...”  
Eobard held Barry close to him in return, relieved that he seemed to believe him. It wasn’t a complete lie, but it was what the boy needed to hear. Barry had to stay in that tower. His source of magic had to stay with him. “There is something you can do.”  
Barry took in a breath to keep his emotions in check and pulled out of the hug to look his father in the eye. He gave a small smile, willing to do whatever his father needed. But as Barry smiled, Eobard’s face turned cold.  
“Don’t ever ask to leave this tower again.”  
It felt awful. His chest felt heavy with the weight of the command because he knew that no matter how much it hurt, he would have to agree. Still, he looked out of the window beside them to see the small patch of green that their tower sat on and the grey mountains that surrounded them. It was the only piece of the outside he would see, their small fragment of the world.  
He couldn’t leave and hurt his father, not when he had nearly lost him once. Still, it hurt to think of the lights, shining out like a beacon, beckoning him away from where he was. Maybe one day he would get to them. But for now, he would try to obey and try not to ask.  
“Yes, Papa.”

 

As soon as Leonard Snart’s feet hit the dirt of the forest, it was a run back to safety from the royal guard who were hot in his heels. The wind rushed past him and the forest opened up as he raced to freedom. The feeling of a chase with the royal guard, though never planned, always brought him a rush.  
In the satchel at his side was the crown of the lost prince, one of the most prized items in all of Corona. It was made with enough gold and even rare pearls that anyone who had it would have enough money for the rest of their life. Many had attempted to take it before, with it simply sitting around waiting for an owner, but none had succeeded until that day. Len took great pride in his thieving skills, and wasn’t ashamed of being the best in the land at it. After all, he had worked hard for his reputation.   
He didn’t risk time looking behind him, but he could hear the Mardon brothers running alongside him. They had been helpful where needed, but he didn’t need them anymore. Now it was time to get back to base and get back to Lisa. She’d want to at least try the crown on before they sold it.   
Len pushed his was through the trees of the forest outside Corona with the sound of horse hooves growing behind him. Though the danger was right on their heels, he couldn’t help but laugh. The brothers would have told him to take the situation more seriously, if they weren’t running for their lives, but Len wouldn’t have paid attention either way. With the crown at his side, the trees around them, and the royal guard racing behind them, he embraced the feeling in his chest that today was going to be a big day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER 2 WOOOOO !!!!!  
> Okay: The mark on Barry is meant to be this story's version of Rapunzel's one short brown hair in the film and it will feature again in what I hope is a cool way so watch out for that.   
> Len's stuff is short in this chapter I KNOW but there will be more Len POV soon that I'm enjoying writing so have no fear. Chase scenes are hard so Len's stuff is hard but I hear patience is a virtue (I for one don't really have any but I hope you do) I'll have more Len soon PROMISE !!!!!   
> I'm setting myself an amount to write each day so I'm hoping that this fic will be quicker that my Beauty and the Beast one xxxx


	3. Right When You Think You Know What To Say

“What now, Snart?”  
The trio of thieves skidded to a halt in front of a rock face blocking their path. The forest laid around a set of mountains that left the land difficult for even carts to get through, meaning the men had found themselves blocked in by the land. With the royal guard catching them up, there wasn’t time to turn around and try another route.   
“Okay,” Leonard turned to face the brothers, knowing that he would have to be the one to get them out of this situation. “Give me a boost, and I’ll pull you both up.”  
The Mardon brothers simply glared at Len before sharing a look between them.   
Cylde crossed his arms. “Give us the satchel first.”  
Len rolled his eyes. Of course they wanted the crown with them. “After everything we’ve been through you still don’t trust me.”  
Len feigned offense in his voice, but was more annoyed than anything. He didn’t have time to debate with the pair. The men just looked back at him like he was stupid to suggest that they trust him, and he honestly didn’t blame them.  
“Alright, fair enough.” He slipped the satchel over his head and shoved it to Mark. If it was going to stay with them, he was at least going to give it to the brother with more common sense. Mark slipped the satchel over his shoulder and the brothers began moving to the rock face.  
Len checked behind them to make sure that the guard hadn’t reached them yet and was relieved to see they weren’t. Once Mark was on Clyde’s shoulders, Len started climbing up, not worrying if he squashed the brothers under his boots. He managed to kneel on Mark’s shoulders, when he felt the leather strap of the satchel under his fingers. If he timed this correctly, he could be home free. He looked up to the ledge and tried to maintain his balance. Without drawing attention, he carefully gripped the satchel in one hand and quickly stood up and grabbed onto the ledge with the other hand, feeling the grass under his fingers. When he pulled himself up, he pulled the satchel off of Mark’s shoulders and threw it onto the ledge so he could have another hand free. Once he had both arms on the ledge he pushed off of where he stood on Mark’s shoulders and rolled himself onto the ledge.  
“Now help us up, Snart,” Clyde warned once Len had disappeared over the ledge. The man in question popped his head into view, looked over the brothers once, and smirked.   
“I would love to but...my hands are full.” Just out of reach, he dangled the satchel over the rock ledge. Len wanted to laugh when he saw their shocked and furious expressions looking back at him. Mark quickly looked down to his torso, expecting it to still be there, but found that Snart had really slipped it off him.   
With that, Len raced to stand back on his feet and began heading off back into the depths of the forest, leaving the brothers yelling behind him.

 

Ray pulled his horse to a halt once he reached the grassy top of the rock face shortly after, where he looked down to see the Mardon brothers get blocked from running from both behind and above.   
“Nice try, gentleman.” He smiled, but soon it faded when he realized that Snart wasn’t with them. If they were going to split up, Snart wouldn’t leave the crown with these two, Ray knew him better than that.   
He turned back to the few men gathered on horseback next to him. “We need to head after Snart.”  
“I’ll take some men and apprehend him. You take the brothers back to the city,” replied Joe West, who was next to him.  
Ray was going to say that he was technically Captain of the Guard, and Joe was head of Security to the King, so Ray had the higher position on this particular mission, but Joe was already heading off and Ray didn’t want to yell at the older man to come back. He sighed and let Joe go after Snart before he got away. 

 

Joe knew he should have let Palmer make the decision, but he wasn’t going to let Snart escape with the crown. He had served Henry for many years and he wasn’t going to let his friend lose one of the only things he had of his lost son. Joe had kids of his own; he knew how much this meant to Henry as a father. Being his personal bodyguard meant caring for his wellbeing. Besides, if he could put Snart behind bars in the process, then it seemed everyone would benefit.

 

Before long, the ground under Len’s feet shook with the impact of horse hooves behind him. Regardless, he kept running. He kept on the dirt path through the trees, not sure whether to risk getting lost in the woods, until an arrow shot past his head and found itself in a tree next to him. He didn’t attempt to look behind him, but he guessed that there were about four men on horseback following him, and if they had arrows then they weren’t necessarily planning on taking him in alive. He needed a new strategy.  
Watching the tree line, he waited till the path was straighter and darted right and off into the trees. It was harder to get through, but if it was hard for him then it would be even more difficult for the guards chasing him. He could hear the horses making a fuss back where he came from, and was relieved that he had chosen a good spot to run into. Here, the trees where too thick for horses to easily get through. If the guards wanted to get him, they would have to continue on foot, and being this far into the woods, he doubted that anyone would want to lose their ride home.  
He managed to push through the thicket with only a few scrapes which was well worth losing the guards for. Eventually the trees opened up again and he skidded to a halt on a different part of the path. He quickly scanned over the trees around him for a sign of where he was, but this far into the trees and even the path itself was wearing thin. Getting away from the guards was one thing, but now he would have to work out a way home too. He knew the forest well, it had been a long time hideout of his away from the kingdom, but after a while trees just all look the same.   
Then his feet were swept out from under him and he went face first into the dirt.   
“Get up.”  
It hurt but he had no time to worry about that. He turned over and slowly knelt when he saw who had found him.  
“Captain West. Is it Captain? These royal titles are a bit much, don’t you think?” Joe stood, sword raised, and Len couldn’t be bothered with being afraid. He rolled his eyes. “I think I’d make a good Captain.”  
“Get up,” Joe repeated, more pointedly. He was clearly not in the mood to chat.  
Len sighed and decided to humor the man. He raised both hands and pulled himself up to a standing position. He knew he had a sword pointed at him, but it wasn’t exactly a situation he wasn’t used to.  
“You’re coming back to the castle with me,” Joe said, a fact, not in instruction.   
Len scoffed. “Shouldn’t you buy me dinner before taking me home?”  
Joe made a move closer, and Len felt done with this game. He ducked to the ground and kicked out Joe’s legs from under him. The man fell into the dirt and Len had only a second to be smug with his payback before he scrambled to his feet again. He headed off behind him and didn’t stop to check if Joe was up again or following him.  
It didn’t stop him however from yelling over his shoulder: “Maybe next time, West.”  
Len hurried off into the trees with no real idea of where he was going. Being this far in, everything seemed to look the same. The trees rushed past him and soon it was hard to tell one path from another. He needed to get somewhere safe to stop and navigate his way back.  
He eventually skidded to a halt and allowed himself to check if he was being closely followed. He couldn’t yet see Joe but he could tell he was still hot on his trail. He was running out of options. He quickly looked over the trees for a different route, or a good hiding place at least, but didn’t see anything worth pursuing.   
He’d ended up surrounded on all sides, away from the path with the mountains rising up in front of him. He could divert, try going further into the trees, but at this rate there’d be no way back to civilization if he strayed anymore into the unknown. He leaned his back against the rock face and thought that maybe he’d run out of places to escape to, when his hand went through the wall.  
He froze for a second. He looked to his left and found where his hand had hit some greenery on the rock face, it had found a space. Len expected a small gap in the rock, put pushed back the leaves with one hand and found a large entrance way in the rock, hidden from view by the greenery.   
He would have stood longer in confusion, but heard a noise in the distance. Joe was catching him up. Acting on impulse, he pushed through the leaves and hid himself behind the greenery, away from view. He couldn’t see through the thicket, but he heard someone on the other side. He tried to regulate his breaths, stop himself from breathing too loudly after all the running, and wait for the Captain to pass.   
“Snart!” Joe yelled into the empty forest and in felt deafening to Len compared to his attempts to stay silent.   
Eventually the movement on the other side of the greenery became quieter, and Len assumed that Joe had moved on to look for him elsewhere. He released the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in and tried to relax a little. He was safe, for now.  
He didn’t want to risk going back outside and get spotted, so he looked further down into the rock entrance to see a light round the corner. Maybe the rock face opened up into a different part of the forest? He saw no harm in investigating especially when he couldn’t safely go back the way he came. He instinctively laid one hand on the strap of the satchel on his torso to confirm that he still had it, before walking into the unknown.

When he rounded the corner, the sight was far from what he was expecting. It was beautiful, a hidden piece of serenity away from the world.   
The area was surrounded by rock to block out the rest of the forest, even the world. On the rock face furthest from him was a small waterfall that edged down into a pond. The ground beneath his feet was green and it spread over parts of the rock and even sprouted into a few trees that stood near the entrance. The thing that stood out most though, was a single tower sat in the middle of the green plain. Len wasn’t sure if it was the remains of a castle or built alone in the middle of nowhere, but it was beautiful in its own way. Flowers and ivy was wrapped around the bottom of the white tower seamlessly as though the tower had grown there like the trees and was simply part of nature.   
He stood gazing at it before deciding to explore further. Even if he found nothing, he needed a place to stay for the night, and this was at least a building that could provide cover. He edged closer, feeling out of place in the peaceful environment, like he was entering a painting and removing the carefully placed lines to make room for himself. It felt odd in that way, like he was treading on paradise.  
Once he came closer to the tower, he saw small gaps in the stone. He brushed his fingers against the surface and managed to fit his hand easily into one of the walls’ holes. It made sense; he saw no door so maybe the only way up was to climb the wall itself. He eyes slowly scanned the tower and saw a window at the top where the holes ended, big enough for a person to pass through. This placed had been made with people in mind.   
Other than the running water, he had heard nothing to suggest there were people here. He didn’t know why anyone would want to live this far into the forest, hidden from everything. Well, he knew the desire to hide away, but this seemed extreme. It felt like a safe guess when he then assumed that the place was abandoned long ago.   
Finding to other way to go, he decided his best route was up. He sunk his hands into two gaps in the stone and began climbing up with a degree of ease; the spaces were the perfect size and placement for someone to climb up. It was high, but that didn’t really bother him, so he reached the top in good time. He pushed himself up and sat on the windowsill before twisting his legs round and landing inside the top of the tower.   
If the outside of the tower was unexpected, it was nothing compared to inside. The walls of the space were completely covered in paint. Patterns of all colours covered every inch of the walls it seemed. Even looking up into the highest parts of the roof he could see art in the ceiling corners. Len couldn’t help but think someone had too much time on their hands. The place seemed clean, not dusty and old like somewhere abandoned should.  
Len slipped the satchel over his head and placed it on the floor. Maybe this place was lived in after all. Everything seemed peaceful there though.  
Then he got smacked in the head with a frying pan.

 

“Barry, what was that?”  
“Nothing!” Barry instinctively said, even though it was definitely not nothing.  
He gripped a frying pan in his hand and stared at the unconscious man on the floor. It was a person. Someone had found him. So why didn’t he tell his father, who was just in his room?  
He edged closer to the figure on the floor, frying pan outstretched in front of him. He stood over him and paused. This was the second person he’d ever met, aside from his father. He’d heard a lot about people though. As a child, Eobard had told him about how people were cruel and monstrous. The people he had heard about were cannibals and thugs, with sharp teeth and ugly faces. They’d kept him up and night, and more importantly kept him in the tower.  
Barry felt something was off about this stranger though. He poked him once with the frying pan, just to check he wouldn’t move, an was relieved when he didn’t. He slowly used the frying pan to pull back the corner of the man’s mouth, but was surprised to find no sharp teeth, just normal ones. He seemed to relax a little at that. Cautiously, he laid his frying pan on the ground while keeping his eyes on the intruder. Satisfied that the person wasn’t going to move, he knelt down next to him to look at him properly.  
He wasn’t like what his father had described at all. Barry was expecting a monster, but found simply a man. He thought he was handsome. He had seen no one to base this opinion on, but something was telling him that this man was indeed handsome. He didn’t have sharp teeth or a monster’s face, quite the opposite. He wasn’t sure why his father had said people didn’t look human, why he’d seemingly lied.  
Barry pulled his gaze away from the stranger when his satchel caught his attention. Something inside was shining in the sunlight. He got up from his space next to the man and picket up the satchel. Inside was a crown, golden and elegant, worth more money that Barry had probably ever seen. He didn’t know why, but his finger reached in and pulled it out so he could see it more. It shone in the sun and Barry didn’t want to let it go. Something was drawing him to it, something he didn’t understand. He moved like he was in a trance, and walked to the full body mirror in the room. Once in front of it, his hands moved by themselves, and he slowly placed the crown on his head.   
It fit perfectly. It sat amongst his brown hair and he tried to take in the image in front of him. He looked almost taller, more regal with it. It fit him like it was made especially for him.  
It wasn’t though. The thought brought him out of the trance and he quickly snatched it off his head, like it was burning through his skull. He didn’t waste another second and rushed back to the satchel and hid it back inside. He had to be serious.  
He looked back slowly to the intruder who laid on the floor. He had to be realistic. This person had come to his tower, probably to kidnap him for his power and kill his father. It didn’t matter how beautiful he was, he was still here to hurt him. That’s what people outside of their tower did. He was the kind of person he’d been warned about, the kind who would hurt him if he went outside.  
But he didn’t hurt him. He was unconscious. Barry had stopped him before he’d done anything. Suddenly any fear he had just washed off of him and he began feeling pride. He’d stopped the intruder! He began smiling to himself. Maybe he really was strong enough to handle himself out there. He didn’t even need to use his power, only a frying pan. If he had been able to do this, then his father might let him  
Then his moment of pride was shattered.  
“Barry?” his father’s voice rang out from the other room and Barry skipped a heartbeat.  
He panicked. What would his father do when he saw what Barry had done? When he saw the stranger? He would freak out, surely. Barry acted on instinct and raced to cover his tracks. In a rush of lightning, He picked up the stranger and his satchel and threw them the closet, the first hiding place he could think of. He grabbed the nearest chair and hooked it under the handles to stop the door from opening with the weight.  
Once he returned to normal speed, he just stared at the closet in case it would open, and was relived when it didn’t because then his father entered the room.  
“I had better be heading off into town soon and-” Eobard paused mid-sentence upon seeing Barry. The boy had his hands behind his back and eyes wide. He was hiding something. “What’s wrong?”  
“Nothing!” Barry said far too loudly and quickly to be true. “Well, actually-”  
“Just tell me what it is, Barry,” Eobard sighed and moved over to the kitchen area of the main room to get some supplies together.   
With his father’s back to him, Barry turned to look again at the closet. He’d have to tell his father. Maybe if he knew he would see how Barry could handle himself in the world and let him see the floating lights like he had hoped. It was worth a try.  
“Well, I was thinking about what you said about the floating lights and-”  
“Barry. We’ve talked about this.” Eobard rolled his eyes. He’d hoped the boy would have dropped the issue, but wasn’t surprised when he persisted, just annoyed.  
“I know but I’m just saying-”  
“Barry. We’re done talking about this.”  
“It’s just that,” he edged closer to the closet, “you think I can’t handle myself out there-”  
“I know you can’t.”   
“But if you just-”  
“Barry.” Eobard was starting to lose his patience. “That’s enough.”  
The young man laid his fingers on top of the chair against the closet. He was lost in his excitement and pride in himself that he didn’t notice how his father was getting angrier by the second. “If you just listen-”  
“Barry,” he could feel himself on the edge.  
“Oh come on!”   
“Enough with the lights, Barry!” He yelled and finally turned back to his son. Barry could beg all he wanted but he was done waiting for him to grow out of his longing to go outside. Barry looked taken aback by his sudden change in voice, but it didn’t phase him. He’d lost his patience. “You are not leaving this tower! Ever!”  
The room fell silent. Barry froze where he stood by the closet. He let his hand fall back to his side.  
The pair looked over at each other and Eobard saw the hope drain out of Barry’s expression. The excited light behind his eyes seemed to have blown out. The boy didn’t deserve this, but Eobard had no choice. He couldn’t lose him. He turned back to packing a bag.   
“Great,” he mumbled, just loud enough for Barry to hear. “Now I’m the bad guy.”  
Barry didn’t know what to say. Maybe there was nothing to say. All his hopes of even one day outside had been crushed, like a butterfly under a boot. Nothing would convince his father to let him go, not even for a day.   
The tower suddenly felt grey. He was stuck there, and the future seemed emptier because of it. The green world with its golden lights was always going to to out of reach, to be seen but never known. His heart hurt.  
He looked back at the closet behind him. He couldn’t stay there, not forever. He was meant for more than what was within those tower walls. If his father wouldn’t let him go, he would have to find another way. The man in the closet was proof that people weren’t what he though, maybe he was right in thinking that the world was more than the dark place his father told him in was.  
Either way, he had to know. It didn’t matter if he was wrong, just if he was willing to find out.  
“All I was gonna say was...I know what I want for my birthday now.”  
Eobard sighed. “And what’s that?”  
He treaded softly. “More paint...the one from those white seashells?”  
Eobard turned back to Barry and saw how small the young man was. His arms were wrapped around himself and his eyes were on the floor. He was hurt, but it was for his own good.   
“That’s a long trip Barry. It’d be gone a few days.”  
“I just thought it’d be better than...” He bit his lip. He loved his father, but had to get out, and that meant playing his game a little to see the floating lights. “...seeing the stars.”  
Eobard looked at his son and saw his rebellious spark blown out. He may be sad now, but as long as he stayed there, it didn’t matter in the end. A few days to get paint wouldn’t be the worst thing.  
He moved over to Barry, not wanting to leave with the young man hating him. “Are you sure you’ll be okay with me gone?”  
Barry looked up from where his eyes laid on the ground. He’d be fine. He’d be better than fine with what he had planned. He managed a smile. “I’ll be safe as long as I stay here.”

 

Barry sat on the windowsill and waved his father goodbye as he disappeared through the gap in the rock and out of sight. Once Barry was left alone, he glanced over to the closet to remind himself that he was not. His plan was ridiculous. he didn’t know if it would work, but he had to see the world, even for a little while. If his father wouldn’t let him go, he’d have to do it by himself.  
Well, not completely by himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS WAS SUCH A PAIN IN THE ASS TO WRITE but I'm posting it to end my suffering so try to enjoy ?????? better stuff soon I hope


	4. Someone Comes Along and Shows You a Brand New Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Len meet and take a step into the unknown.

When Len woke up again, he wasn’t sure what to expect. He found himself still in the tower, the last place he remembered being, but something was off about it. It was dark, little light coming through, which left the area even more mysterious than before. Then, when he tried to move, he realized what was off the most. He was tied to a chair. He was bound to a wooden chair by his wrists and ankles. He tried to pull at the ropes but they remained tight.   
“Struggling is pointless,” called a voice from the shadows around the room. It would have been intimidating, had the person behind the voice not sounded so unsure and high-pitched.   
Len tried to look for who was holding him captive, but the figure remained close to the shadows. “What?”  
“I know why you’re here...and I’m not afraid of you.”   
That just confused Len more. He knew why he was there? Even Len didn’t know why he was there. Whoever was hiding there, clearly knew something Len didn’t. He ended repeating his previous sentiment. “What?”  
Then slowly out of the shadows emerged his captor. Into the light came a young man, one who looked nothing like Len expected a captor would. He was young, younger than Len, with messy brown hair and an innocence behind his eyes. Simply, he was pretty, the kind of guy Len thought he would have flirted with in a pub had he spotted him there. Something was different about him though, Len just couldn’t think what.  
“Who are you, and how did you find me?” The young man asked as he moved out of the shadows and into the light.   
Len didn’t register the question. He didn’t even register that he was staring. He just looked at the man in front of him a little longer, trying to place why a handsome stranger was trying to question him. “Uh-huh...”  
“Who are you,” the man raised the frying man he was holding over his shoulder and repeated his words more pointedly. “And how did you find me?”  
Len didn’t find him intimidating, just cute. This kid was clearly trying to scare him into talking, but Len had been through this before with much less attractive captors and hadn’t said anything then. He wasn’t about to lose his cool over a pretty face.   
“Alright.” He thought he might as well humor the kid for a bit. “My name’s Snart and I have no clue where we are exactly.”  
The young man glared at Len for a moment, assessing whether he believed him. He raised his frying pan under Len’s face and the man had to lean his head back to avoid getting smacked in the jaw. “Who else knows my location, Snart?”  
Having the frying pan nearly hit him again wore out Len’s patience. “Look, hot stuff-”  
The kid turned an abnormal shade of red at the nickname. “My name’s Barry.”  
Len raised an eyebrow. At least now he had a name. More than that he knew the kid didn’t do well with flirting. He made a mental note of that; it always came in handy to know your captor a little.  
“Whatever. Look, I was in the forest and needed to lay low. I came across your tower and-”   
Then he remembered. He’d dropped the satchel with the crown once he got here. He quickly looked back to the window and didn’t see it on the ground where he had left it. He darted his eyes back to the kid. He didn’t go through all that effort to get the crown for some stranger in the forest to take it. “Where is my satchel?”  
“I’ve hidden it,” Barry smiled for the first time. He crossed his arms at finally having a genuine upper hand. “Somewhere you’ll never find it.”  
Now they had a problem. Len wasn’t about to let this kid get away with taking the crown. He clearly had a motive behind all this, Len just had to work out what.   
“So,” Barry continued. He began circling Len, frying pan in hand as his last defense. “What do you want with me?”  
“What?” Len repeated for the third time. This was getting exhausting. He had no clue who Barry was, but clearly the kid thought he did.   
“Did you come here to kidnap me?” Barry gripped his frying pan tighter. “Sell my power? Or use it for yourself?”  
That threw Len off. Barry was on edge, paranoid.   
“What? No.” He couldn’t say that he’d kidnapped someone before, especially not an innocent kid, and he wasn’t about to start. “The only thing I want with you, is to get out of your way.”  
Barry opened his mouth to talk, but paused. He watched him for a sign that he was lying, but no such thing came. “Wait...You don’t want to kidnap me?”  
“If I wanted your attention I’d be a bit more charming than that. Besides, why would someone want to kidnap you?” He passed the question off as rhetorical, but then genuinely wondered. Barry was certain that Len had come here to kidnap him with no evidence to support this, only paranoia. Len knew that level of worry didn’t come from nothing. He’d spent a long time paranoid, looking over his shoulder. It takes a toll on a person, and Barry was too young to have that kind of worry.  
When Barry continued to look at him with distrust, he sighed. “Look, I was being chased, saw your tower and climbed it. End of story.”  
Barry watched him for a moment. Neither man was what the other had expected. Barry knew he shouldn’t trust a stranger, not after all his father had taught him, but this one was surprising him. He didn’t seem to be lying. Even if he was, Barry was low on options.  
He bit his lip. With his eyes pinned on Len, he lowered his frying pan to his side and decided to go with what appeared to be his only option for freedom.   
“Okay,” he said, voice soft and uncertain. He seemed to hear this in his own voice as he spoke again with more confidence. “I’m willing to offer you a deal.”  
“Deal?” Len wanted to roll his eyes. Flirting with him had been fun but this was getting too much. He didn’t have anything to offer the kid but the crown and that wasn’t an option.   
Barry moved Len’s chair a touch to the left and walked over to a fireplace. He stood beneath it and pointed to the painting above him. “Do you know what these are?”  
Len looked up and recognized them instantly. Though here they were simply strokes of yellow paint, he remembered them. In his memory, they were different though. He remembered them, but along a dirt road, with a little girl, and a surrounding of trees. The painting had the same emotion that his memory did though. The material they were made of was different, but the wonder was the same.  
“You mean the lanterns they light for the prince?”  
Barry smiled a little and looked behind him and back at the painting, as though seeing it for the first time. Len couldn’t see his face, but he could tell that this meant something to him.  
Barry had been right. He felt a sense of pride at being right. He could help but quietly speak to himself. “I knew they weren’t stars.”  
He turned back to Len, removing the smile from his face in favor of seeming tough as he made his offer. He crossed his arms and took a deep breath.  
“Well, soon they will light the night sky with these lanterns. You will act as my guide, take me to see these lanterns, and return me home safely. Then, and only then, will I return your satchel to you. That is my deal.”  
Barry smiled to himself, but Len wanted to laugh. This kid was going through all this trouble, tying him up and hiding his satchel, so he could see the lanterns. It seemed unnecessarily dramatic, but Len couldn’t fault him for that, being guilty of it himself. As intriguing as the offer was, it had to be a no.   
“No can do, hot stuff. See, I’m something of a wanted criminal in Corona, so I’m going to have to say no to your little road trip.” It seemed almost a shame, but money came first, not the dreams of cute strangers.   
Barry’s face fell for a moment, as though he would give up. Then something changed in his expression. He balled his fists at his sides and stood upright to get more height. It was a determination the kid had been lacking through the whole interrogation that made Len pause. He didn’t want to take no for an answer.  
Barry started slowly walking back over to Len, attempting to be intimidating. It didn’t do much to scare Len, but it was better than his earlier attempts. When he spoke again, it wasn’t with hesitation. “Something brought you here, Snart. Call it fate, destiny-”  
“The royal guard,” Len dryly added.  
“So I have made the decision to trust you.”  
He resisted the urge to scoff. “A horrible decision, really.”  
“But _trust me,_ when I tell you this.”   
As he spoke, he ended up directly in front of Len. Then, without warning, he quickly leaned over Len’s shoulder to grab the back of the chair and yanked it forward so he was leaning solely on the from legs. Len thought he would hit the ground for a second, but he stopped with only Barry as support, who was looking down at him. From this angle, and with his eyes like daggers, Barry seemed less cute.   
“You can tear this tower apart, brick by brick, but without my help, you will never find your precious satchel.” He spoke with certainty, knowing the tower better than a stranger ever could.  
He didn’t necessarily have intimidation on his side, but he had a stubbornness that Len recognized as unfaltering. He watched the kid for a break in his expression, but none came. Maybe Barry wasn’t the only one out of options. Len had to get the crown back. He had to at least consider Barry’s offer, no matter how odd.  
“Okay, let me get this straight. I take you to see the lanterns, return you home, and I’ll get my satchel back?”  
Barry nodded. “Take it or leave it.”  
Len didn’t really have a choice, he wasn’t going to go back to Mick and Lisa and say that he lost the crown to a kid in the forest. They’d be sorted for life with that crown, so one trip to see the lanterns didn’t seem like the worst price to pay. At least he could try and convince Barry to give it to him early. He found himself quite persuasive when he wanted to be, and he already knew Barry turned red at the slightest compliment.   
He sighed. Maybe it’d be fun. Either way, he only had one option: agree. “Fine. You got a deal.”  
“Really?” Barry sounded genuinely surprised Len was agreeing. He pushed the chair back so all four legs were on the ground again and paused.  
Len scoffed. “Yes, really. Now can you let me go?”  
Barry smiled finally, and Len thought he preferred him smiling to threatening him. Barry was hesitant at first, but slowly unravelled the rope around Len’s right wrist so he could untie himself.   
Once Len had a hand free, he released his other wrist and ankles so he could move again, though he stood up slowly, not to spook the kid who was still in front of him. When he stood up, he was taller than Barry by a little so the kid had to look up a little to be eye to eye with him. They both just stood, at the beginning of their path, deciding who should step first.  
“Alright,” Len decided, not being one to take orders. “We’ll head off tomorrow morning.”  
Len turned his back to Barry so he could look over the tower fro a moment. It would be easier to go tomorrow, with the guards out of the forest and the stars having passed through the sky for navigation.  
Barry didn’t seem to like being the one to follow though. When he spoke, it was unexpectedly high pitched. “What? No! No. I’m in charge of this exhibition and I say we leave now.”  
Barry crossed his arms as though to make a point of his stubbornness. “Right now.”  
Len turned back to Barry to see him trying to seem like the boss, and raised an eyebrow. He resolved to humor him. “Fine. Let’s go.”  
He gestured with one arm to the window and Barry broke his appearance of confidence for a moment. He looked at the window from the corner of his eye, and then back to Len. “Well...good. I’ll get provisions.”  
He pointedly marched over to the kitchen and began scouring every cupboard for what food to bring. Len watched him go. He wanted to laugh at himself, wondering what kind of mess he was getting himself into.

 

“You coming, hot stuff?” Snart yelled from the bottom of the tower up to Barry, who was still standing on the wooden windowsill.  
It looked like an awfully long way down. He’d stood in that spot many times, looking over at the green world outside, and now he was so close to it. The outside seemed a whole lot bigger from there. He guessed it was just nerves; he hoped it was just nerves.  
Regardless he had to go. With one final look behind him at his home, he made the decision to begin his journey. He had a bag of food on his back; his speed used up a lot of energy so he needed to eat a lot, and his frying pan was under one arm.   
He waited for Len to look away and sped down the side of the tower, wanting to get it done quickly so the nerves would leave. In a flash on lightning he sped down the stone. It would have been a good idea, had he not stopped just before the ground.  
He stopped. He gripped the wall just next to the ground, only needed to lower his feet in order to be on the grass floor. Though he was right there, he paused. He clung to his home and stared at the grass for a moment.   
Eventually, he placed one bare foot out of one of the holes in the wall and hovered it over the grass. His foot gradually lowered and finally hit the ground. The grass was spiky but also had a softness to it. It was comforting.   
Barry then moved his other foot to the ground and released his tight grip on the wall. Without the fear, and with the soft grass under his feet, all the tension and nerves in his body seemed to drop. He’d done it. He’d left, and the world he had entered was as wonderful as he thought it’d be.   
He didn’t know if Snart was staring at him or even talking to him; he didn’t register anything other than the dirt between his toes for the first time. He was aware that he was smiling, of the summer breeze gently flowing past and beckoning him to move further into the wide world. It was liberating. There was nothing stopping him. he could be free, explore, run.  
Run. He looked up to see the grass laid out for him leading to the gap in the rock he had watched his father disappear through from afar. The whole world was laid out for him. He felt the lightning in his veins building up, just waiting to go. The tower had been so small, with no real room to use his power, all his potential. Here, he saw the world around him opening up to meet him, and knew that was what freedom really was.  
He started walking, his feet moving on their own. He was vaguely aware that Snart was talking about where to go, but all his attention was on the horizon. He was walking away from home, all he knew, but he didn’t feel nervous. He felt alive.   
He picked up the pace. He didn’t want to show his powers to Snart yet, but he also longed to rush into the world as fast as he could.   
He started a slow run to freedom.  
“Kid?” Snart yelled from behind him, but all he felt was the rush of the wind going past him, the feeling of the grass on his feet as he picked up the pace. “Barry!”  
He started to run. Everything raced past and as soon as he hit the entrance in the rock, away from Snart’s view, he really ran. The lightning in his blood sparked to life and he sped through the darkness and burst out into the world beyond.  
Outside the cave, the world was bigger than anything could have prepared him for. The green paints he’d used didn’t compare to the vibrant colours of nature, with yellows where the sun slipped through the leaves of tree, and flowers on bushes, even the speckled greens of the grass under his feet. The height of his tower was nothing like the trees that stretched out into the sky to reach the rich blue overhead, broad and strong from years in the sun’s glow. The world was scary and big, that much was true, but it was also what made it so exhilarating to him.  
He looked around him at the world, and felt no words were enough to describe the feeling of having the world be as wonderful as he had hoped. It wasn’t just another step in his life, it was the whole beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I deffo prefer this chapter to the last one. Get ready for Coldflash shenanigans!


	5. Here I Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Len and Barry begin their journey to Corona

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Barry is an excitable child, Len is a grumpy cat, and Eobard is not happy.

When Len emerged from the other side of the rock entrance to rejoin Barry, he was fairly certain the kid was crazy. He pushed back the greenery covering the secret entrance and found Barry pacing back and forth amongst the trees while murmuring to himself.   
“Father would be so furious....no. I’ll be back before he knows I’m gone....I’m still betraying his trust though....but then again what he doesn’t know won’t kill him, right?...”  
He stopped in his ramblings for a moment, then buried his face in his hands. “Oh my God! This would kill him!”  
Len leaned against the rock face and raised an eyebrow. Barry was clearly uncertain about this whole endeavor, the muttering and pacing made that much obvious. Len watched him and wondered if he could convince the kid to turn around. If he could get his satchel and avoid the side trip to Corona, it would save him a lot of effort. He found himself to be quite persuasive, so it was at least worth a try.  
Len cleared his throat. Barry jolted at the reminder that he wasn’t alone and pulled his head out of his hands. He quickly shoved his hands to his sides and tried to not look embarrassed, but failed.  
“You know, I can’t help but notice that you seem a little...at war with yourself.” Len pushed off the wall to move closer to Barry who was calming down a little.  
“What?”  
“I mean I’m only picking up pieces, something about your father and betraying his trust, am I right?”  
Barry sniffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Something like that.”  
Len knew more than a little about overbearing fathers. Only difference was that Barry wanted to go back to his tower eventually. Len was never going back to his. He walked over and ended up in front of Barry and had to put himself first.   
“Look, everyone disobeys their parents at some point, it’s just part of growing up. It’s nothing to get worried over.”  
Barry glared at him, annoyed at himself for doubting his mission more than anything, but maybe Len had a point. He hadn’t really met anyone else to see how true his words were. “Really?”  
“Really. You’re just overthinking this,” Len assured him with a hand on Barry’s shoulder. Once he had Barry’s attention, it was time to pull out his persuasive charm. “Will this break his heart and crush his soul? of course, but that’s just how things go.”  
Almost instantly, Barry clicked back into his worried expression and thought about all the ways this would go wrong.  
“Break his heart?” He asked to himself, thinking about how awful his father would feel when he found out that the son he loved was gone. “Crush his soul?”  
Len moved his hand round Barry’s shoulder while the kid was contemplating. He managed to get Barry to walk with him, and he started guiding him back towards the way home. “Awful, isn’t it?”  
“He’d be heartbroken...” Barry felt the guilt building in his chest. After all his father had done to protect him, could he so easily betray him and put himself in danger by running away with a stranger?   
“Yes he would. But you can still turn back, go home-”  
Suddenly Barry was pulled out of his thoughts. He realized he was being walked back the way he came and forcefully stopped both himself and Snart in their tracks.   
“No!” Barry said, remembering why he was going. His father wanted him to miss so much of the world, but Barry had to see the lanterns. He may regret letting down his father, but he would regret it more if he gave up on his opportunity to go after his dreams. He could always go back to his tower, but he couldn’t always see the lights.  
Len lowered his arm from around Barry’s shoulders and looked down at the boy who was now glaring up at him.  
“I am seeing those lanterns!”  
“Oh come on!” He gritted his teeth. He was so close to getting them to turn around. If Barry was anything, it was stubborn. “Is this what it’s really going to take for me to get my satchel back?”  
Barry shot daggers from his eyes at Len. He glared at his guide and with a swift move of the hand he aimed his frying pan in front of Len’s nose. “I will use this.”  
Len didn’t doubt that. He raised an eyebrow before raising one finger and pushing the frying pan out of his face. Barry seemed to let him, but both kept their eyes fixed on each other, waiting for the other to give up their position. Len wasn’t one to take orders, especially not from people like Barry, but he didn’t have the upper hand here. Barry had both the satchel’s location and his stubbornness, both of which Len was growing tired of.   
He faked a smile. “Fine. Lead the way.”  
Barry relaxed only a little. “I will.”  
Stuffing the frying pan into his rucksack, he turned and marched away towards the trees for only a short distance before slowly coming to a halt. When he turned back, it was with his arms crossed and a sulking expression. He grumbled, “I don’t know where we’re going.”  
Len smiled and this time it was genuine. At least he had some control here. He gestured with his head to his right and watched Barry swallow some pride and start walking that way.   
“So...” Barry started saying as stood next to each other again. The began moving along what Len recognized as the faint remains of a path, and Len kept an eye on the trees to try and decipher where to go. “Where are you from?”  
The question came from nowhere and Len turned his attention to Barry, who was smiling up at him. The kid was curious, more than he liked people around him to be. They were stuck together for the time being, but that didn’t mean his was going to spill his past to him.   
“Whoa, kid. You don’t get to blackmail me into helping you and then know all about my backstory.”  
Barry rolled his eyes. “I’m just making conversation. Besides, I’m not blackmailing you.”  
Len gave him a look that said, yes, you are blackmailing me. Barry wanted to argue otherwise but just huffed instead and decided against it.  
“Fine. Then maybe we should set some ground rules for our...business venture.”  
Len scoffed and turned his attention back to the trees. “If that’s what you want to call it. Alright, you go first.”  
Barry knew what he didn’t want Len to know, it was just about diverting his curiosity from the real secrets. “Okay. You can’t ask me about my father.”  
Len nodded as Barry spoke, a subtle indication that he was listening though he was looking ahead of them as they walked.  
Barry continued. “No asking about why I brought so much food and no asking about why I live in a tower in the middle of nowhere.”  
Len wanted to scoff. “Oh, now you’re taking all the fun out of this.”  
Barry laughed a little, before righting himself. He was pretty sure that covered everything. He wouldn’t ask about his father or tower, so maybe he wouldn’t get any guesses in about his powers. As long as that stayed a secret, he’d be safe. He didn’t trust his handsome stranger just yet.  
“Okay, your turn.”  
Len thought Barry’s were fair. He’d be fair, but at the same time he didn’t want to reveal much to him, or worse, get attached to him.  
“Well, no asking about my family. We both want that so that should be easy. No asking about my childhood, life as a criminal, or relationship with Corona.”  
Barry nodded also. He could tell Snart was keeping things close to his chest, and decided it was probably for the best.  
Len saw Barry’s sombre expression and sighed. He wasn’t going to open up to him, but he should at least keep them both on fairly good terms, for mission purposes of course.  
He smirked and added a final condition: “Also, you’re not allowed to fall in love with me.”  
Barry make an inhuman noise. He quickly looked over to Len with wide eyes, blushing from ear to ear. “What!? Why would I-...I wasn’t going to- I just...I would never- I mean I... How could you- I won’t!”  
Barry waved his arms as he spoke in a flurry of embarrassment and Len laughed. It was cute to watch Barry fumble his words and blush at the slightest suggestion of flirting. Maybe a little teasing would be good for him.  
“Whatever you say, hot stuff.”   
Barry skidded to a halt and Len followed suit, maintain a calm demeanor while Barry was clearly flustered.   
“One more thing!” He hastened to add. “You’re not allowed to call me that.”  
“Why not?” Len smirked. Barry wasn’t insulted by it, so maybe he didn’t know how to process it. Len pointed to the red of Barry’s cheeks. “Because it makes you do that?”  
Barry quickly raised a hand to cover one side of his face. He realized he was blushing too much to cover and forced his hands back to his sides. “Yes, because it makes me do that.”  
Len laughed and the pair began walking again.   
“You don’t get flirted with a lot, do you?”  
Barry looked at the ground, both to avoid Len seeing his blush and so he didn’t have to look him in the eye at his next comment. “Well...you’re the second person I’ve ever met, the first being my father. So, no, I don’t get flirted with.”  
Len’s smirk faded and he felt like the teasing was over. “Wait, seriously? You haven’t met anyone? At all?”  
Barry shrugged. “I’ve never left the tower before.”  
Len just watched him for a moment. Barry was looking at the floor, almost ashamed that he hadn’t left before. So it was the truth. Len didn’t know what to make of that. It clearly made Barry embarrassed, to have missed out on the world, and Len pitied him for it. He could at least try to cheer him up a bit.  
“That explains why you’re so bad at flirting. You haven’t even been kissed, have you?”  
Barry turned an abnormal shade of red. Before Len could make another teasing comment, he quickly changed the subject.   
“Leaf pile!” He yelled and pointed into the distance before swiftly pulling his rucksack off his back and shoved it into Len’s hands. Without another word he started rushing away from Len’s side. Len’s eyes followed where Barry pointed and saw the young man go bounding into the forest. He raced to a large pile of leaves and fell gracefully backwards onto them, sending leaves flying up from the impact.   
Len knew he was distracting him from the question, but he let Barry lie in the pile of greens and browns a little longer. Slinging the bag onto his back, he slowly walked over and saw Barry relaxed amongst the greenery, buried in leaves. He ran his hands through the leaves and listened to the crunch sound they made under his fingers, another new experience.  
Len crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to jump in every leaf pile on the way to Corona?”  
Barry sat up in the leaves and brush some out of his hair. “Only the big ones.”  
Len rolled his eyes. He’d let him jump in this one, but they were on a schedule and he didn’t have time to stop at everything Barry saw as a natural phenomenon. He leaned down and offered a hand to help Barry up. The young man looked at it for a moment before accepting and letting Len pull him up.  
Once up, he smiled at Len with pink in his cheeks from running instead of blushing. “We should keep moving, right?”  
Len smirked when he realized the kid hadn’t noticed something yet. “Yeah, but you should let go of my hand first.”  
Barry looked between them and finally noticed that he hadn’t let go yet and quickly dropped Len’s hand.  
“I-ha, I just didn’t...” he rubbed his hand awkwardly over the back of his neck. He scanned the trees for another distraction and spotted water in the distance. “Is that a pond?”  
He made a move to go to it, but felt something stop him. Len had grabbed him around the waist to stop him from moving forward. It stopped him from running but not from going red in the face. He didn’t like how Len kept making him do that.  
“How about we go swimming on the way back, okay?” He sighed. He hadn’t got enough time or patience to make a side trip at every turn. It had been cute the first time, now he needed them no get moving.  
Barry rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to jump in, okay? I just need to wash my feet.”  
Len raised an eyebrow, but then looked down to see that Barry had run out here without shoes. Of course he had. His feet were dirty all over and now had leaves stuck to them. Len wanted to roll his eyes. He was about to make a snide comment, when Barry slipped past him and moved off to the water regardless.   
Barry skipped off into the trees again with Len trudging behind him. He made it to the edge of the pond and looked into the clear water before him. He had to fight the urge to jump straight it, but instead gently scanned the surface for where rocks stuck out above the water enough to act as stepping stones. Once he saw one on the water big enough to sit on, he tried to steadily go step by step over rocks to reach it. They were slippery, and Barry was prone to clumsiness, but he kept his balance and ended up on the rock. He rolled up the ends of his trousers up to his knees and carefully sat down to dangle his feet in the water and remove the mud that was sticking to them. It was refreshing and chilling on his skin, but soothing in a peculiar way.   
Len reached the water’s edge and found Barry scooping up a lily pad in his hands to get a closer look at the soft pink petals. His back was to him, but Len could tell Barry was transfixed, and oddly at peace with nature despite being locked away from it for so long. He seemed better with nature than he did with people.   
Maybe that was the key to it. He sat on the grass next to the water and looked over the trees. By his calculations they weren’t too far now from a certain place he knew well. If Barry liked nature and was paranoid with people, then taking him to a pub filled with criminals might just be the way to get his satchel back and the kid out of his hair.  
He looked over to the water and saw Barry gently skimming the top of the water with his fingertips. Maybe in another life, he’d stick around. If he didn’t have the crown then maybe he’d take Barry all the way to Corona, laugh when he smiled at every tree and rock that was slightly new to him. But right now, getting that crown to Lisa came first. Lisa would always come first. Who knows, maybe he’d meet Barry in the future, if he ever found the courage to stay outside a little longer.  
“Hey kid,” He called and Barry turned to him with a smile. He wouldn’t regret this. He wouldn’t. He kept saying that, but something about how happy Barry was then made him doubt himself.   
“Are you hungry?”

 

“No sign of him round here, Sir.”   
Eobard stopped in his tracks when he heard the sound of people. His usual route through the forest was chosen so he wouldn’t come in contact with people, yet he could here voices in the distance.   
He stayed in the shadows and but tried to edge forward enough to see who was this far into the tree. People usually didn’t come this far, and definitely not in a large group as this seemed to be. He finally spotted a group of people in the clearing, and recognized them instantly. Their golden armor made it obvious that they were the royal guards of Corona. They stood in a group, some on horseback and others temporarily on foot, and looked round the trees for something.  
Eobard glared at them from the shadows. He’d handled enough royal guards in his life and hadn’t been caught yet. It wasn’t uncommon to see them in the forest, but this far was indeed out of the ordinary.   
“We need to keep looking,” called a voice that Eobard was unfortunately familiar with. He spotted Joe West approach from the distance with Raymond Palmer by his side. Seeing Palmer wasn’t a surprise; he was always eager to do the right thing. Having Joe be out on what seemed like a patrol was out of the ordinary though. Joe was a guard to the King. He only left the kingdom if the King himself did, or he was on special business for Henry. Eobard couldn’t see Henry amongst them, so it had to be a special assignment by order of the King.  
“He’ll be around here somewhere,” Ray assured Joe, but it nothing to calm the older man.   
_He._ They were looking for someone this far into the forest. No one lived this far out, or would even want to venture this far if they could help it. The only person person Eobard knew who lived out here was himself.  
Himself and Barry. If they were searching for a man this far into the forest by order of the King, they could be going after Barry. He didn’t know how they could have found them, if they even had, but the risk was too great for him not to turn back and stay with Barry till the guards had returned to Corona.  
He stalked back into the darkness available to him and made his way back through the forest the way he came.

When he went through their secret entrance in the rock and reached the tower, something felt wrong. It was as if something was darker, but he couldn’t yet place what was wrong.  
“Barry!” He yelled up as he reached the bottom of the tower. “I’m home!”  
He heard nothing back. He always got a reply.   
Eobard yelled up again, with desperation in his voice, but still no voice came back to him. The tower stood cold and empty above him and he didn’t want to contemplate the reason why.  
Barry had no reason not to reply unless something was wrong. Eobard’s blood ran cold. He didn’t waste any time and rushed up the side of the tower to get inside where he hoped beyond reason that Barry would still be.  
He rushed inside and the darkness that met him confirmed what he had feared. There were no candles lit, no signs of life where they would normally be. The paintings on the wall that would convey life almost mocked him in the shadows that surrounded the room.  
He ran to Barry’s bedroom but the boy wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere. Eobard threw open the closets and almost tore doors from their hinges, but there was no one there. He ripped curtains off the windows, but the little light that came through revealed what he already knew was there, nothing.  
Eobard almost tore his hair out. Barry was gone, taking all his power and plans with him. Years of work to keep him from the world for himself were gone out the window. He was seething with anger at the thought of someone being in his tower. An outsider had been in to take Barry, maybe a guard, maybe someone else. It didn’t matter. Only getting his source of power back mattered to him. He’d kill anyone who would stand in his way. A part of him hoped he would get to kill whomever had taken Barry.  
Then a light hit his eyes. He pulled himself from his thoughts of murder to see a small shimmer of light from inside the tower. From under one of the stairs came a small white reflection that hadn’t been there when he’d left.  
He moved to the stairs and knelt to down to pull the top of the wooden stair loose. it came off easily and revealed a satchel beneath, one Eobard hadn’t see before. He quickly reached in and pulled out the first thing he came across. He held it up to the light from the window and finally realized what he was holding. The second he did, he dropped it like a burning coal and the item clattered to hit the stone floor where it sat, looking at him.  
It was the Prince’s crown. Barry’s crown. He hadn’t seen it since a rainy night years ago, in a castle far away, with a child sleeping close by. He’d left it in Corona, not wanting anything in his tower to reflect the truth. Yet here it was, where it didn’t belong.  
The crown sat with the jewels facing him as though it was mocking him. He glared at it for a moment longer, disgusted by all it represented, before turning back to the satchel. There had to be a reason this ended up here.  
He reached in and found the only other item inside was a wanted poster. The name on the poster read Snart, a name he vaguely recognized with a face he did not. The man was listed with crimes of thievery against the King, wanted dead or alive.  
A thief. Eobard found his answer there. Barry must have been kidnapped and stolen away from him by this thief, Snart. Even if not, he now had a name, a place to start looking. He would tear the forest about, one tree at a time, just to tear this thief apart and get his power back.  
Still, he had to worry for Barry. He didn’t want his source of power to be corrupted or hurt. The boy was young, and very naive, the perfect person to take advantage of in the dark forests Eobard had hidden him in. He didn’t trust anyone, especially not with his prized possession.   
He could imagine Barry, out in the darkness of the of the trees, with a criminal holding him captive. He’d be scared, alone, in a world he’d been taught to fear since childhood. Barry must have been terrified.

 

“This is the best day ever!” Barry screamed as he raced down one of the green hills of the forest, the wind rushing through his hair and the cool air filling his lungs. He could hear Snart laughing behind him, but he wasn’t embarrassed. The air couldn’t get past him fast enough; the ground beneath his feet couldn’t move beneath him fast enough. It was a perfect day, and for a moment, it felt like nothing would go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My family know I do creative writing and they asked what I am writing rn and this is what happened:
> 
> My brother: (deadpan) She writes fan fiction about two straight fictional characters in a gay relationship.  
> Me: (externally) hahahaha very funny  
> Me: (internally) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTTow1tOnEo
> 
> Jokes on him cus Len is totally pansexual in canon and Barry hasn't SAID he's straight....so I win 
> 
> BACK TO THE FIC: I like to think Barry likes nature because his power comes from sunlight and a flower so he's connected to the world despite being new to it. Trust me that Len like Barry, he just doesn't like the idea of of liking Barry. He has a criminal reputation to keep, after all. The end bit is just to contrast Eo's thoughts, to show how he doesn't really know Barry because he views him as more a source of power than as a person, though he does care......in an odd way.   
> Coming soon: a special sister, a pub, and people with dreams.


	6. I've Got A Dream

“It’ll be around here somewhere,” Snart assured Barry as they wandered across the path to their lunch destination. They’d been traveling for a while, and Barry had been able to stop himself from diverting from the path just enough for them to reach somewhere to eat by midday. Barry had brought plenty of food, but may have underestimated just how much he could eat.  
They’d found a path and were finally making headway towards the kingdom when Snart interrupted Barry’s thoughts.  
“Here we are.”  
They stood at a diversion in the path that led to a building, with horses tied outside and faint noise coming from within. In seemed nice enough from the outside.  
“It’s called Saints and Sinners.” Snart said and Barry turned to him with a questioning look. “Relax Scarlet. It’s nicer than it sounds.”  
Snart started walking towards it and Barry picked up the pace after a moment to be by his side again.  
“Scarlet?”  
Snart smirked to himself. “Well, if I can’t call you hot stuff then I’m gonna need something to call you.”  
“You could always call me my name,” he reminded him, but Snart didn’t seem to think there was any fun in that. Barry paused before giving in. “Why Scarlet?”  
“It’s the color you turn when we flirt.” Snart replied but kept his eyes ahead as though it was obvious.  
“Hey, _I_ don’t flirt, and I _don’t_ turn scarlet.”  
Snart just laughed and kept walking. “If you say so.”  
The pair reached the doors to the pub and Barry found himself pausing. Snart said that it was safe, and the place seemed peaceful enough, but something felt off.  
“Don’t worry, kid. You’ll be fine,” Snart tried to assure him, though Barry still felt like he wasn’t telling him everything. “Wouldn’t want you to get scared and give up on this trip, do we?”  
Barry glared at him. He wasn’t giving up on this trip for anything. Besides, he wasn’t scared. He told himself that at least.  
Snart pushed open the door and called for a table, and Barry saw exactly what he was worried about.  
Looking back at them were the ruffians and crooks Barry had been taught to fear, to stay in the tower to be away from. Most towered over him in height, all armed with a variety of weapons to hurt someone with. They were visibly strong and glared at the pair with daggers in their eyes that made Barry want to turn around again.  
He froze in the doorway, and would have stayed there if Snart didn’t calmly start pushing him inside.  
“This is the finest establishment for miles. You can practically smell the blood in the air. Your thoughts?” His hands were on Barry’s shoulders to stop him from darting out the way they came in. He could feel the tension in Barry’s body as they went further in, slowly pushing through the middle of the people.  
Barry could feel his heart rate pick up. Everyone was looking at them like they were lambs for the slaughter, and he tried not to look any of them in the eye. This was exactly what he’d been warned about, what he’d wanted to avoid. He was pretty sure one man had a hook for a hand, another had rats on his shoulders. Most seemed to be missing some teeth but all had their attention fixed on Barry.  
He felt himself step in something sticky and leapt out of Snart’s grip. He flipped himself round but couldn’t see what it was in the dim lighting of the pub. He bumped into something behind him and he jumped again.  
“Hey,” then Snart was in front of him with a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t look so good, Scarlet. Maybe we should head off.”  
He started to turn around and Barry used the opportunity to reach into the backpack and yank out his frying pan. He turned his back to Snart and aimed the frying pan at the thugs glaring at him. It didn’t seem to phase them, but it made Barry feel better to have something to fight back with.  
Snart sighed from behind him. “Are you really going to fight everyone in here...with a frying pan?”  
When Barry didn’t move or reply, Snart rolled his eyes. He just wanted to scare the kid into going back home and giving him the crown. he didn’t bring him here to fight a room full of thugs, with Barry seemed fully prepared for. “Look, maybe I should take you home-”  
He turned to leave and found the way back to the door blocked. They were surrounded by people. Len sighed. He could talk his way out of this one, hopefully. “Look, gentleman. There’s no need to keep us any longer than necessary. We know when we’re not wanted. We’ll just be on our way now-”  
He could hear a few of them laugh. One in front of him unraveled a sheet of paper in front of his face and Len confidence dropped like a stone. It was one of his wanted posters. This one however had some changes, most notably the charge of treason and the reward for his capture being a large sum of money.  
“This is you, right?” asked the tall thug holding the poster.  
Len kept a fake air of calm, but was rattling off possible ways of escape in his head. “Now, let’s be reasonable about this-”  
In a second he was grabbed by one of the men. Uproar began over who would get the money for handing Snart over. He got tossed about between the men, each trying to grab him. One left to look for one of the guards while the others argued.  
“Hey!” Barry yelled, but was surrounded by men pushing him out of the way. They swarmed around Snart so much that Barry couldn’t see his companion amongst the men. “Give me back my guide!”  
He shouted but none of them seemed to pay him any attention. He didn’t have time for this. He was scared of them, but he wouldn’t let them hurt Snart or stand in his way. He was braver than that.  
Being smaller than many of the people there, he slid between them enough to get behind the man with a hold of Snart. Then, knowing it wasn’t a very good idea, he used all the strength he could muster and smacked the man over the head with his frying pan.  
That seemed to get everyone’s attention. The men froze. Even Snart looked at him with surprise.  
“Put him down!” Barry finally yelled, this time to a silent room. He aimed his frying pan at them. “I will fight you!”  
Just when he was prepared to attack anyone who came close to him, they backed off. Snart got dropped and felt with a grunt to the ground and the others moved away. Barry paused. He didn’t think they’d actually listen to him.  
He was proud of himself for only a moment, when he realized there was someone behind him. He slowly turned. Behind him was definitely one of the scarier men in the room. He stood taller than Barry and had what seemed like burn marks on his arms. Barry gulped but was prepared to fight him off too, when the man spoke.  
“Can’t stay out of trouble, can you Snart?”  
Then Snart himself came to stand next to Barry while the other men in the room glared at them. ‘Where’d be the fun in that?”  
The man didn’t seem impressed with that answer, but accepted it anyway. He looked back to Barry who was still a little on edge. “Who’s the tag-along?”  
“This is Barry,” Snart placed a hand on his shoulder that seemed to tell him it was okay to calm down now. Barry lowered the frying pan to his side. “Barry, this is Mick.”  
Mick looked down at Barry like he was a piece of mud on his shoes. He rolled his eyes. “C’mon. We got a room in the back.”  
He strode off through a door in the back of the room and Barry and Len followed swiftly after, Barry sticking close to Len so he could attack again if anyone got any ideas. He may have been in the clear, but he could still feel people watching, waiting for the right moment.

 

Len moved into the back room and was relieved to see his usual crew of rogues again. Hartley was lounged out on one of the benches and Sara had his head in her lap. They perked up when they saw Len, mostly yelling their usual insults, but with the heart of friends. Most importantly, he saw Lisa. She looked well, to his relief. It had only been a day or two, but it was a comfort all the same.  
“It’s about time you got here!” She said, racing over to him. She pulled him into a hug and he welcomed it. When she let him go, she saw her attention turn to the stranger, who was smiling at Len.  
“Who’s this cutie?” She teased.  
Len turned to Barry. he’d have to break the news of how they ended up in this situation, and that would be easier with Barry out of the way for a second.  
“Sara,” he called over Lisa’s shoulder. “Can you get Barry something to eat?”  
The blonde happily sauntered over, eyeing up Barry for a hint of who he was. “You hungry, sweetie? We’ve got some good stuff here.”  
“Uh y-yeah. That sounds good,” Barry smiled at her and she linked their arms to guide him over to the other side of the room to keep him out of earshot.  
Len moved over to the table where Hartley was sat and Lisa and Mick joined him.  
“Where did you find a kid like that?” Mick asked, still confused by the small boy who’d tried to fight him with a frying pan.  
“In a lone tower hidden by rock in the middle of the forest.”  
Mick raised an eyebrow at his friend but Len just sighed. “I wish I was kidding.”  
“Okay, onto the important stuff,” Hartley interrupted. “Did you get the crown?”  
They were all looking at him. Len leaned back in his chair and prepared for the endless questions. “I did...But I’m not the one who has it right now.”  
“Why not? Who does?” Lisa asked.  
Len closed his eyes. In answer to both questions, he just pointed to Barry.  
He waited a moment, and just as he expected, he was bombarded with questions.  
“Why does he have the crown?”  
“He took it and won’t give it back till I help him.”  
“Well, what does the kid want?”  
“...He’s making me take him to see the lanterns.”  
He opened his eyes again and saw his companions look at him like he was a madman.  
“It’s ridiculous, I know.”  
“Then why are you doing it, Lenny?”  
“It’s the only way to find where he’s hidden the crown.”  
“Seriously? You’re just going to waltz into Corona, risk everything, just for a kid you met in the forest?”  
Hartley scoffed. “Yet you complain at me when I flirt with guys on missions. You’ve just kidnapped one!”  
Len glared at him. “Hey, I haven’t kidnapped him. I’m just going to take him to Corona, and then I’ll get the crown back.”  
“Was this really the only way to do this?” Mick asked, still thinking the whole plan sounded stupid. “Couldn’t you just scare him into telling you?”  
“In case he didn’t already make it obvious by threatening everyone with a frying pan, he doesn’t scare easily.” Len rested his head in his hands. “Besides, he’s stubborn. I brought him here to scare him and that didn’t work out well.”  
The group argued and Lisa diverted her attention over to the other side of the room where Barry had stood, but found that he wasn’t there anymore, nor Sara. She didn’t think Barry seemed as impossible to reason with as the others were making him out to be.  
“Lenny,” she interrupted whatever Hartley and Mick were arguing with him about, she didn’t care what. “How about we chat with Barry about this?”  
“Alright,” he sighed, agreeing with her. He too looked over to where Barry and Sara had been, but also saw no one there.  
Where’d he go?” he asked, with seriousness and exhaustion. The others looked but saw nothing. Len couldn’t believe his bad luck. Well, the only other rooms in the place were off limits, apart from the main room.  
Barry had to be in the main room. “...Damnit.”  
Len marched over to the door, full expecting to have to fight his way through men to get them off Barry. He hoped the kid didn’t have a tendency to get into trouble, but it was looking all the more likely. Barry was going to be the death of him. He shoved open the door and only took one step in before stopping.  
Barry was in the middle, but not exactly in any trouble.  
The pub was run by the Ramon family, and Len recognized their two sons, Cisco and Dante, both with Barry. Dante was on the piano in the corner of the room and Cisco and Barry were singing while pulling people up to dance. All the men who had threatened to tear him apart for reward money were now clapping along and letting Barry show them how to dance. even Sara was joining in by chatting with some of the men.  
To Len, it looked like something out of a drunk hallucination. He wouldn’t have gone near any of these men if he could help it, yet Barry had somehow got the whole room to sing and dance with him. Len just stared, trying to figure out if he had knocked his head at some point to result in the sight before him.  
Then, Barry spotted them in the doorway and bounced over, the biggest smile on his face. “Snart!”  
Barry grinned at him and Len had to accept that what was happening was real, ridiculous, but real.  
“Barry...what are you doing?”  
Barry spoke at an incredible pace. “Oh! Well Sara came out her to get more food! So I followed and met Cisco and Dante, but some of the men in here tried threatening me for helping you - but I told them that I needed you to fulfill my dream and said ‘have they ever had a dream’ and that made them _madder_ so Cisco said he dreamed of love and Dante wanted to be a pianist and I’d never seen a piano before but its so cool! so he started playing and we started singing and I asked everyone about their dreams!”  
Len stared at him like he was a madman. “Their dreams?”  
“Yeah!” Barry was ecstatic at the idea. “Everyone seemed to have accepted being thugs but they just need someone to support them! Look!”  
He turned back to the room like a proud parent, seeing all the people enjoying themselves at the show. Len couldn’t help but laugh. All the people he thought unredeemable were singing along with this kid. Maybe he just had a way with criminals.  
He turned back to the group with Len. “What are your dreams?”  
They all looked back at him with less enthusiasm than Barry was looking for. Eventually, Lisa decided to humor him a little. “I dream of being a princess.”  
Len rolled his eyes. She just had to tease him with the least attainable dream. It didn’t seem to phase Barry’s overflowing optimism though.  
“Great! There’s plenty of kingdoms you could join, or you could start your own and rule that!” Barry didn’t seem to see the sarcasm and rattled off options for her. Though it made Mick roll his eyes, it only made Lisa like Barry more.  
Then, the piano began to play something softer and Barry got pulled away from the conversation. “I’ll let you all do...whatever you want.”  
He smiled at them before heading to stand next to the piano and just listen to the music. It was a new sound for him. he’d had some instruments, but a piano would have been too difficult to get into the tower, nor would it have fit. It sounded soft, romantic to listen to.  
Mick grumbled something to himself before moving to the bar and Hartley soon followed, leaving Len and Lisa in the doorway.  
“Go dance with him,” She said.  
Len raised an eyebrow at her. “Why?”  
“Well, it’ll stop you staring at him for one thing.”  
Len scoffed. “I’m not staring at him.”  
“Yes you are.” Lisa tilted her head and gave him a wicked grin. “Besides, he totally wants you to. He’s been making eyes at you the whole time I’ve seen you together.”  
“Really?” It wasn’t a genuine question. “I doubt that.”  
“You’ve been doing the same.” That got her a glare from her brother which she simply laughed off. “Do you really think he doesn’t like you?”  
Len crossed his arms and turned to look at Barry. It was a stupid question. Maybe Barry blushed whenever Len flirted with him. Maybe he trusted him with no obvious reason to and laughed at his remarks. it didn’t mean he liked Len. It was only after contemplating this that he noticed he was doing exactly what Lisa told him he was doing, staring at Barry.  
“I’m only with him to get the crown. That’s the only reason he’s here.”  
Lisa watched him for whether it was true, and must have come to the conclusion that it wasn’t.  
“Lenny,” she said, voice softer than normal. She rested her hand on his arm. “You can put yourself first for once.”  
He was caught off-guard. He looked back at her and saw the genuine care in her expression, showing that the teasing was over. She didn’t have to elaborate, but he knew what she meant.  
“That’s not a part of the plan,” he warned. They had planned to leave Corona and the past behind once they had the crown and the wealth that came with it. It didn’t feel fair to made her stay here, with all the reminders of the past and the little hope they had, just so he could pursue the small chance that Barry would want to stay with him.  
“The plan is for us to be happy, right? One dance won’t change that.”  
She was right. He hated it when she was right about things like this, which happened a lot of the time.  
He sighed and walked over to the piano where Barry stood, calmly swaying on the spot. He stood behind him and paused for a moment. He felt nervous. That never happened. Pulling himself together, he cleared his throat and watched Barry turn around in surprise. He felt a little foolish, more like a child with a crush than a grown man. It was just an offer to dance, it didn’t have to mean anything more than that.  
He reached out his hand and tried to seem as relaxed about the offer as he could. It didn’t help that Barry saw his hand and started going pink in his cheeks. He looked between Len and his hand, before slowly accepting it.  
“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Barry laughed as Len led him into a clear space for dancing.  
“Don’t worry about that,” Len replied and gently placed Barry’s hand on his shoulder. He kept his hold on Barry’s other hand and slowly rested his own on Barry’s waist. “I’m quite the expert.”  
Len started them slow, just light swaying to give Barry the right idea for how partner dancing worked.  
‘So,” Barry tried talking to give himself something to distract him from how red he was turning. “Lisa wants to be a princess. What about you?”  
Len scoffed. “My dreams?”  
Barry nodded. If Len hadn’t wanted to tell Barry anything personal about him when they made their rules, then he wasn’t about to reveal his hopes and dreams to him. He told himself he wouldn’t, yet found himself speaking anyway.  
“I’m going to buy myself an island and live there all alone, just the way I like it.”  
Barry chuckled at the idea. “is that what you care about?”  
“Yes,” he replied with confidence. “And money.”  
“You care about your sister.”  
Len raised an eyebrow.  
“Sorry. Sara told me she was your sister. I know I’m not supposed to talk about your family.”  
Len didn’t mind though. He thought that Lisa and Barry would probably get along, teasing him together and both being stubborn when they knew what they wanted.  
“That’s the second of my rules you’ve broken.”  
‘Wait, what was the first?” He asked, trying to think what he had said.  
Len wanted to laugh. Barry looked so genuinely concerned that he had offended him. It wasn’t something people usually cared about doing. “I told you not to fall in love with me and you’ve clearly broken that rule.”  
Barry laughed. “I have not!”  
“Yet you’ve still somehow ended up in my arms. Suspicious, isn’t it?” Len teased, and he moved one of his hands so they both rested on Barry’s waist. Barry, on instinct, laid his now free hand on Len’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his partner’s neck.  
“Dancing’s a two person endeavor. Maybe it’s you who’s in love with me.”

 

Eobard found the Saints and Sinners easily, thanks to the music that was starting to fill the forest. If he was going to find the criminal that stole his son, then here was the place to look. He walked up carefully, not wanting to yet be seen by anyone inside, and reached one of the windows that looked into the main room.  
As soon as he looked in, he spotted exactly the two people he wanted to see, but not how he had expected. Barry was there, to Eobard’s relief, but he wasn’t a scared captive. Instead, he had his arms around the neck of the very man Eobard had been expecting to free him from. Barry didn’t seem scared, nor did Snart seem evil. Both were smiling and simply enjoying a dance. Eobard hated to admit to himself, but Barry looked happier than he had seen him in a while.  
It was sickening. Barry looked too happy to have been kidnapped by Snart. Eobard had to accept that Barry must have gone willingly, left the safe haven he’d made for him to run away with a criminal, maybe even elope with him. All he’d done to keep people out of Barry’s tower, when he should have done more to keep Barry in.  
It was a problem, but Eobard always got his way. He would get Barry back, if he had to break his heart to do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
> 
> This took almost a week sorry and it's not proof read but I HAD TO POST IT SO SUFFER
> 
> ...with love. Love you just like LEN AND BARRY ARE IN LOVE why don't they kiss already whose writing this rubbish? Xxx


	7. With Every Passing Hour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS  
> TOOK  
> SO   
> EFFING  
> LONG

“The Guards are coming!”   
Someone yelled from the doorway of the Saints and Sinners, and the merriment ceased. The singing and dancing stopped instantly and the atmosphere in the room shifted. People jumped out of their seats, rushing about in a panic to hide any sign that they weren’t all moral men.  
Len and Barry halted their dance when the people started running round in a panic. Barry instinctively moved closer to Len who held his tighter when people pushed past them. Knowing they needed to get away from the guards, Len cleared his throat and Barry snapped out of his nerves and pulled away a little.   
“We need to get out of here.”  
Barry nodded and they released their hold of each other and they started making their way through the people. They didn’t make it far across the room when the door to the pub was thrown open. The pair reacted instantly and ducked under the nearest table to avoid being seen.   
“Where’s Snart?” a voice bellowed from the doorway. Barry looked over to Len and saw the man roll his eyes.  
“A friend of yours?” Barry whispered.  
Snart slowly tried to look over the table to see what was going on. He wasn’t surprised to see Joe West at the door with royal guards following him. “I wouldn’t exactly call him a friend.”  
“Search the place!” Joe commanded to the guards and the men made their way into the pub. “Turn the place upside down if you have to.”  
Len resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment and instead started scanning the room for a way out. The windows didn’t seem big enough to escape through and the front door was the only way out. He was quickly running out of options.   
Then he felt Barry hold his hand.   
“Cisco showed me a way out. There’s a passage behind the bar.”

 

“Whoa! Watch it, will you?” Cisco rushed to where soldiers were tossing tables over to find Snart, his hands trying to shoo them off. “This stuff isn’t cheap to fix.”  
Joe placed a hand on Cisco’s shoulder. He knew the young man was a good person who simply kept less than moral company from time to time. “Look, Cisco. We know he’s here. You can just hand Snart over and be done with all this.”  
Cisco feigned shock. “Me? Harboring him? How dare you accuse me of something like this.”  
“Cisco.”  
“He already left. You just missed him.”  
Joe would have laughed. He got on well with Cisco on most days; he was friends with both of his children. It would have been funny if it wasn’t over one of the most wanted men in the Kingdom.   
“Cisco. I can’t leave here without him.”  
Cisco gave an exaggerated turn, gesturing to the men in the room. “Well, he isn’t here, Joe. I want to help, but I can’t.  
Joe glared at the men in the room. he was sure that several of these people, if not all, had warrants for their arrests. He didn’t have time to arrest everyone here though. The rest would have to wait.   
Unfortunately, Cisco was right. He couldn’t see Snart anywhere, though that didn’t mean that he wasn’t hiding somewhere in the building. It wasn’t big, but the place had probably hidden its fair share of criminals over the years.  
He was about to give another order to his men when another person entered the building with a crash.  
“Honestly, dad,” Iris rolled her eyes as she strolled into the pub. “It wouldn’t hurt to give Cisco a break.”  
Joe immediately felt more exhausted upon seeing Iris proudly march into the building. Ray was hot on her heels, looking just as exasperated. He had the Mardon brothers stood outside with chains binding their hands and a few guards watching them. Joe rolled his eyes at the whole situation. “Iris, I told you to stay in Corona.”  
His daughter smiled back at him. She adjusted her royal guard armor with pride before stopping in front of him. She’d fought to get here and the last thing she would allow was for her father to stop her now. She’d only recently been allowed to join the royal guard, that she would admit, but her position was still valid. Her father’s worries for her safety would have to wait. “Father, I’m a soldier whether you like it or not.”  
She moved off into the rest of the pub with an air of confidence about her, analyzing the pub she had been to many times before. She made eye contact with Cisco for a second and the pair shared a shrug between them. He respected her strength and role in the law, and she understood his degree of mischief. It was how they got along so well.  
“I just want to say that I did try to stop her,” Ray informed Joe, though it sounded better in his head than when he said it out loud. Joe sighed, accepting that Iris wasn’t going to turn around. When she wanted to pursue something, she did so without worrying of consequences, putting the right thing above herself.  
After walking around the room a little, dodging the criminals and having some dodge her, she carefully walked behind the bar. There was nothing out of the ordinary, not that Cisco really let anyone behind the bar. She made it halfway to the end of the bar, when she stopped.  
The room stood still watching her. She took a single step back and paused again. When she next ducked behind the bar, both Joe and Cisco immediately moved to look over and see what she was doing. The leaned over the bar and saw her opening a hatch in the wooden floor. Through it was a tunnel into the rock and dirt beneath, unlit and leading to somewhere unknown.  
“Looks like someone didn’t secure the hatch door in their rush to escape,” Iris said, looking back to the men at the bar. Joe couldn’t hide the look of pride on his face, but after telling her not to come, he wasn’t about to admit that he was proud of her. However, Cisco looked less than pleased.  
“I had no idea we had that,” he lied.   
Joe turned to the remaining guards in the room and commanded them to begin moving into the tunnel, taking torches from the pub for light. He ordered the men from outside to join, leaving one to guard the chained brothers. The men began making their way into the passage, and Iris and Ray joined the group, as they headed into the darkness after Snart.

 

“So...that was pretty impressive back there.”  
“I know!” Barry’s replied with his voice cracking from the high pitch. He quickly cleared his throat and played it off. “I know.”  
The passage out of the pub resembled a cave more than a man-made route. The walls and floor were made of thick dirt and rock, leaving the air full of dust. The occasional abandoned barrel of rum stood amongst the passage, the remains of a cellar for the pub, now a route for the notorious crooks that came for drinks away from the law.   
The two men wandered through with an air of awkwardness, neither bringing up their dance from moments ago. Escaping through the passage behind the bar hadn’t been as difficult as they had expected. With plenty of people around as obstacles for the guards and the entrance Iris and Ray, there had been just enough distractions.   
Len tried to think of something to say. Barry was proving himself to be more than Len had thought him capable of. He was braver than their paranoid first meeting would have suggested, and better with people that Len had expected of someone who had lived in a tower all their life. Barry was simply a surprise.  
“Okay,” he broke the silence. “I gotta ask you something.”  
Barry perked up from looking at the dirt floor when Len spoke. He offered a smile, uncertain of what was being asked, but optimistic.  
“You seem to like it out here. You’re good with people, like nature. Heck, you could probably talk to animals at this rate.”  
Barry chuckled at the idea. “I honestly haven’t tried.”  
Len scoffed. “You can add that to you bucket list.”  
He paused before asking what was the only puzzle piece left to fit. “So my question is: If you love the lanterns so much and love being outside...why haven’t you gone before?”  
The pair both stopped walking as though the question had the gravity to keep them still. Barry’s smile was swiftly gone. He gave a nervous laugh at the question, but didn’t know how to begin to explain his situation. His father’s warnings, the knowledge of his magic, even the red scar on his arm, all told him not to go outside. He hadn’t told Len about that yet. He didn’t know if he could trust Len with the knowledge of his powers, not after all the stories he’d been told, but a part of him seemed to say that he could.  
“Well...”  
A small pain sparked in his head and he instinctively rubbed the spot on his head. He looked to the ground to see a small rock from the rock ceiling had hit him on the head. That wasn’t the most troubling part.  
The rocks shook and the two men began to notice the ground shake beneath them. A rumbling sound began to come from the passage behind them.  
“Snart?” Barry looked to his companion who returned the glance with the same level of worry. They looked behind them as the darkness behind them began to fade into an orange that danced along the walls. Fire. From around a passage corner the royal guard ran with torches ablaze, straight towards them.  
“Snart!” Barry repeated, getting the feeling that these strangers weren’t friendly.  
“Run!” Len grabbed Barry’s hand and had to pull him to start them running down the passage off into the darkness. They sprinted off into the unknown, trying to dodge rocks and debris despite not being able to see what was in front of them before racing onwards, the guards right behind them.

 

Once all the guards had disappeared into the passages beneath the pub, the Mardons weren’t satisfied to wait for them to return. Taking care of the one guard left to watch them was easy enough, even with the chains around them. They used his sword to free themselves from the chains and pushed past the other criminals to head after Snart and the crown.   
Lisa and the others from Snart’s crew watched from the shadows of the pub’s side room. They waited till everything had calmed down and the guards were away from them before moving back into the light.  
“Well, that went awfully,” Sara moved straight to the drinks.   
Mick seemed satisfied to follow her. “Snart’ll be alright. He’s been in worse places.”  
“We should go after him,” Lisa said and moved towards the passage when Cisco stood in her way.  
“Hey, you’re wanted too. If you go down there, it’s still going to be massively outnumbered, except if you lose, they’ll arrest you too. It’s safer if we all stay here and trust them to make it out.”  
Lisa didn’t like that idea. She didn’t want to stay where it was safe and wait and see if her brother made it out safely, though she knew she didn’t have a lot of practical options. Len was smart. She would have to wait for him to escape and stay where he could find her.  
“Alright. I’ll stay, but I want you to know I’m not happy about it.”  
“I know.” Cisco offered a smile, but it didn’t do much to lighten her mood. 

 

Hartley walked out of the pub for air when he noticed that they were no longer alone.  
“Hey, if you want a drink you can go inside.”  
A figure stood at the window with a black cloak and hood to cover their face. They slowly turned from their position to face Hartley and despite their face being hidden, he still felt like this person was looking down at him.  
The figure removed their hood to reveal a blond man, sporting a few grey hairs and wrinkles that twisted his otherwise younger appearance. his age was odd to make out.  
“Where does that tunnel lead to?” He asked.  
Hartley raised an eyebrow and leaned in the doorway of the pub. “And why would I tell you that? Who even are you?”  
The figure simply rolled his eyes.   
In a second he twisted a dagger from beneath his cloak and rested the metal against Hartley’s neck.   
“I said,” Eobard pressed the knife slightly more into Hartley’s neck, on the verge of drawing blood. “Where does that passage lead?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY I KNOW ITS BEEN TWO WEEKS BUT ITS BEEN SO STRESSFUL RN SO YEAH I'M STILL ALIVE
> 
> Little things: I made Iris a guard cus we know she's a policewoman in Earth 2 so she'd be up for it and i didn't know how else to best include her in this fic. Next one is mostly action so may be a few days. This would have been longer but I wanted you to have something cus its been so long sorry 
> 
> BASICALLY i've had writers block and home stress so this took a while but I'm back and will finish this if it kills me. This is shorter than usual but its been so long and i wanted you to have something. Okay I'm done.
> 
> xxxxxxxx


	8. Let Your Power Shine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who's baaaaack

The passage out of the Saints and Sinners opened up to reveal a dam, water held back by a wooden dam built into the rock face years ago. It was large but unstable, with a trough that stood on stilts and carried small amounts of water from the dam and down to the floor below and then onwards to the river. The area was dry and surrounded by rock on all sides except the for dam itself.  
When Barry and Len reached the end of the tunnels, they had to skid to a halt to avoid falling of a cliff edge. The passage opened up under where the trough began, on a ledge looking over the dusty land beneath.  
A small rope ladder hung off the edge to lead down to the ground and Len ran to it to check their way down. It was a long way to the ground and the only escape route seemed to be a small man-made exit cut into the jagged rock face furthest from the dam.  
“This way!” He yelled back to Barry, who rushed over to join him. The rope was old, and would likely only be able to hold one of them at a time. They looked between themselves, insisting that the other go first, so Len had to gesture for Barry to go first which he reluctantly nodded in agreement to. He swiftly removed the frying pan from his backpack and left it with Len before carefully making his way down the rope ladder.  
Barry was approaching halfway down when the guards reached the end of the tunnel and ran out onto the cliff edge where Len still stood.  
“Keep going!” He shouted to Barry as he got to his feet. He didn’t have a weapon when faced the guards, but he at least had a frying pan. He’d tackled worse odds. Fighting them off proved easier with a frying pan than he had expected. A harsh blow to the head was enough to knock out a man and the width was enough to block a sword. He made fairly easy work of the guards. He managed to kick Ray’s legs out from under him and knock him with the pan too, leaving only Iris with a sword to his throat to fight off.  
Meanwhile, Barry wanted to go back and help Len fight them off, but he had a better idea. With no one looking at him, he used his speed to race down the rest of the ladder and reach the ground. Once his feet touched the dirt, he looked around till he found where the trough on stilts reached the ground and ran over to it. The wooden structure towered over him and stretched out far across the land he was standing on, starting above Len and the guards’ heads. Hoping for the best as he always did, he laid his palms flat on one of the wooden stilts the trough stood on and began using his speed to vibrate the tower.  
Len found an even match fighting Iris, but her father emerged from the tunnel exit too and he knew he couldn’t fight both Wests with simply a frying pan. He gave a final blow as best he could before came to stand on the edge of the platform, Iris and Joe facing him with their swords in hand.  
“Okay,” Len looked between them. “How about two out of three?”  
Before either could reply, a loud rumbling sound came from beside them that made them pause. The trio looked to see the trough carrying some of the water beginning to shake. Soon the structure began to come loose.  
Immediately, Len jumped on the opportunity and quickly turned to the rope ladder. Iris tried to move after him, but her father held her back as the structure pulled loose and pieces fell onto the edge where they stood, creating a blockade between them and Snart.

Barry breathed a sigh of relief and ran to meet Len at the bottom of the rope ladder.  
“How did that happen?” Len asked as he hit the dirt floor, looking back up the way he came.  
“We need to run.” Barry ignored Len’s question for now and proceeded to head towards the exit. They were approaching halfway there when one of the few boarded up exits on the ground got broken through. Out ran the Mardon brothers, now free of their chains and looking ready for a fight.  
“Who’s that?” Barry yelled to Len as they kept running  
The brothers looked around them and immediately focused on Snart. “They don’t like me.”  
Turning back to get a look at them as he ran, Barry spotted Iris and Joe still on the edge, looking down at the scene.  
“Who’s that?”  
“They don’t like me either.”  
Eventually more guards and Ray joined the Wests on the edge.  
_“Who’s that?”_  
Len was noticing a pattern here. “Let’s just assume that everyone here doesn’t like me!”  
Before they reached the exit, they heard a sound behind them. Everyone in the area whipped round to see the dam itself burst open. The water being held back exploded out and started storming towards them.  
Len grabbed Barry’s hand and they started running even faster. The weight of the water forced down the remains of the trough and even the rocks around the dam began cascading down on them.  
They reached the exit and ran inside to be greeted with nothing but darkness. The inside was small, with any route out having been blocked up years ago. It was a dead end. They turned, but the way them came was blocked up too by the falling rocks, with water beginning to creep in through any gap it could find. They were trapped.

Len and Barry tried clawing at the blocked up exit in the highest part of the cave, but it didn’t have any effect. Snart started hitting it with the handle of the frying pan, but none of the rocks came loose. He abandoned that tactic, shoving the pan back in the bag, and used his hands like Barry, but cut his hand against one of the rocks. It stung, leaving a red slash against his palm, but he balled his fist and ignored it.  
The water was reaching their waists. Len tried ducking under, but couldn’t see anything in the darkness of the cave. He came up to the small piece of air where Barry was and leaned his back against the rocks. It was hopeless.  
“It’s no use,” his breathing was heavy now. “I can’t see anything.”  
Barry couldn’t believe that. Without a second thought he tried jumping into the water too, but Snart was quick to grab him round the waist and pull him back up against his wishes.  
“Barry! There’s no point!” He managed to get him to stop fighting him and stand still enough to face him. “It’s pitch black down there.”  
Barry looked back at him on the edge of tears. He was shaking, either from the cold water or fear, Len couldn’t tell.  
“This is all my fault,” Barry said, his voice small and shaking. “Papa was right. I shouldn’t have done this.”  
He gave it to the pain in his chest and forcefully wrapped his arms around Len’s neck to bury his face in his shoulder. Len froze for a moment, just listening to Barry’s breathing, before he returned the gesture and hugged him in return. He hadn’t thought things would have ended like this, the water round their arms and rising to their shoulders. He thought it would be more bloody. Drowning seemed quieter.  
“I’m so sorry, Snart.”  
He sighed. He didn’t think he’d die with someone like Barry, in any sense. Dying for money or freedom sounded like something he’d do, not dying for someone. He’d known Barry for so little time, though it felt longer. Ending things alone had always been his expectation, so dying with Barry seemed happier, in a tragic way.  
“Leonard.”  
Barry sniffed and pulled his face away from Snart’s shoulder so he was face to face with him. “What?”  
“My full name’s Leonard Snart.” He smiled a little. “You might as well know.”  
Barry smiled back at him. They’d been so focused on reaching their ends and getting this relationship over with, that they hadn’t come to trust each other. He pushed some wet hair out of his face and laughed. They were going to surely drown, so he might as well be honest too.  
“I have magical speed powers that activate when I sing.”  
Len’s smile dropped. “What?”  
Then Barry registered what that meant.  
‘I have magical speed powers that activate when I sing!” He repeated with a smile returning to his face, while Len looked at him like he’d gone mad.  
Barry seemed to spark back to life with the hope that they could get out. Without wasting anymore time, he got to work and began to sing as fast as he could.  
_“Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine-”_  
He felt a surge of lightning in his veins and opened his eyes when he felt the lightning rush across his iris in a yellow rush. Everything in the cave became brighter, even Len’s expression which looked as though he was staring at a ghost.  
He looked round the cave, now with better vision, and found a space in the submerged walls that was attracting water, a wall with enough space between the rocks that he could get them loose.  
Not wasting another second, he took a deep breath and dived into the cold depths, and Len, after taking a moment to try and get his head around what was happening with Barry, swam down after him.  
Barry reached the wall beneath the water and placed his palms as flat against the rocks as he could. He began to vibrate his hands, letting the rocks move and pull themselves apart. Leonard swam next to him and stared at him in amazement for a second before he assisted and helped move rocks out of the way and dig through the wall. He kept digging till he felt Barry get hold of his arm, just as the rocks they were pulling through collapsed, and the water send the pair rushing through.

 

Back in the forest, Eobard waited by the exit he had forced Hartley to direct him to, for Barry and Snart to emerge from. He still held his dagger in his hand, prepared to kill Snart if he had to and take Barry home again.  
When the exit finally burst open, a wooden hatch beneath a tree, Eobard hid in the trees to wait for the opportune moment. It didn’t come however, as it wasn’t Barry that emerged, but the Mardon brothers, wet from the burst dam and exhausted. Eobard waited in the trees, watching the situation.  
“I’ll kill Snart for that!” Clyde staggered onto flat ground.  
Mark rolled his eyes. “We’ll cut him off at the Kingdom entrance, get the crown then.”  
The pair leaned against the tree to regain their breath for a second, when a voice came from nowhere.  
“Or, you could avoid all that trouble and think for a moment.”  
The brothers looked into the trees to see Eobard approach, though their attention wasn’t on him, but on the satchel in his hand.  
Recognising it instantly, they unsheathed their swords and quickly stood to face him.  
Thawne rolled his eyes. “There’s no need for that.”  
He threw the satchel over to the men. He’d be glad to get rid of it anyway. The brothers fought over it like dogs before pulling out the crown, still in perfect condition and glimmering in the evening light.  
Eobard crossed his arms, seeing some potential in the pair. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  
“Well, if that’s all your interested in… I have something much more important to take care of anyway.” He pretended to leave but kept an eye on the men. “I’ll give Snart your regards when I kill him.”  
He made it a few steps before one of them called after him, just as he had expected. He smiled to himself and turned back to them.  
Though hesitant, they recognised an opportunity when one arose. Mark glared at the man, "why do you want to kill Snart?”  
“He took something very important to me, something worth more than any crown. If you help me, I’m sure I could find a way to give you some of that power.”

 

When Barry and Len came up to gasp for air, they emerged at the edge of one of the forest rivers that used to be connected to the dam. They pulled themselves to the muddy bank of the river, coughing up water.  
Once the air had returned to his lungs, Len collapsed on the forest ground, turning onto his back and looking up into the orange evening sky. Barry too relaxed on the ground, relieved to have escaped.  
“We’re alive.”  
“...You have magic glowing eyes.”  
Barry turned his head to see Len staring up into the sky as though it would tell him what on earth was going on. Barry smiled to himself. His powers had never seemed odd to him, or his father who of course knew about them, so to someone new it must have been a shock.  
“I can do more than that.”  
That caught Len’s attention and he turned to face him, looking both nervous and intrigued. He was hesitant to ask, and the idea of leaving Leonard lost for words made Barry laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH GOD OKAY
> 
> Life has been hectic and this chapter was an ass so here's a little run down on whats going on for anyone who's bothered.  
> I go into my top choice University and course! I'm so relieved and happy, so currently I'm preparing to leave home and move into my uni accommodation which is taking up my time. Everything is changing rn so finding time to just sit and be inspired to write has been hard, but I'm still at it. While at Uni I will try to keep posting, both this fic and my PoTC one I've started (check it out if ya want) but work will have to come first so pls stick around.  
> HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY CUS ACTUAL GOOD WRITING IS COMING SOON I HOPE XD
> 
> Also: I have a playlist for this fanfic, would anyone be interested in knowing the songs cut I can post the music on the next chapter? xxx


	9. Father Knows Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Len get closer, till a visitor arrives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who's back, back again

“It’s just a scratch, Barry.”  
Night had fallen over the forest and the pair were sat by a fire, trying to keep warm after their unfortunate swim in the dam. Len watched as Barry examined his injured hand where a red slash ran along his palm from their attempts to claw at the rocks.  
Barry bit his lip. “You know how I said that I can do more than…glow?”  
Len didn’t know where Barry was going with this, but he nodded. He’d known Barry was different when he agreed to go on this trip, but he hadn’t expected that to mean he had secret powers. He supposed it was something he would get used to…maybe.  
“Okay, just,” he gently wrapped one hand around Len’s injured one so they were palm to palm. “Don't freak out.”  
Len looked between Barry and his hand with uncertainty, but gave no objections.  
With a final look at Len, Barry took a breath and closed his eyes.  
_“Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine. Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine.”_  
Leonard recognised it as the same song from the cave that he had sung to activate his powers. Now that they weren’t about to drown, he noticed that Barry had a good singing voice, another surprising thing about Barry he could add to the list, along with owning no shoes and having speed powers.  
Then his hand began to glow. From between their hands and through the gaps in their fingers, light began to radiate in a warm yellow glow. Len could feel the heat from the light against his skin and it sank into the flesh of his hand where the skin needed healing. It was mystifying to watch and he struggled to look away, but he looked up at Barry, the only thing that was more enchanting than the magic itself.  
_“Heal what has been hurt, change the fate’s design. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine. What once was mine.”_  
As the song ended, the light between their hands faded and Barry opened his eyes again to find Len staring back at him.  
Len hesitantly slipped his hand free from Barry’s and looked at his palm to find simply that. The red cut had completely disappeared as though it had never been there. He turned his hand over and then looked back at his palm as though it would make a difference. It didn’t.  
“Please don’t freak out,” Barry said before Len could say anything.  
Realising that Barry was was just as nervous as he was, he tried to contain his confusion at the entire situation. “I’m…not freaking out. Have you…always been able to heal people and vibrate walls?”  
Barry chuckled at the last part. He supposed his powers did sound weird when put like that.  
“I gained my powers from a magic flower created through the speedforce.”  
“…I’m going to pretend that makes sense.”  
Barry laughed. He thought this situation would be different, but he was happy that Len seemed to be taking it in his stride. Trusting each other was turning out to be better than either had guessed.  
“When I was young, before I can remember, people tried to take my power for themselves. So when you arrived at the tower I…thought you were trying to hurt me too.”  
He didn’t notice that he was subconsciously rubbing his hand along the area where his red scar was. He looked down at the space on his arm where the red streaks scarred his flesh and remembered how his father had warned him of it happening again.  
“It was too dangerous for me to go outside, where anyone could hurt me so that’s why father…” he sighed. “That’s why I never left that tower.”  
Len watched him and the truth seemed to help things shift into place. The overprotective father, the paranoia when they had met, the fear of the outdoors, all seemed to make sense now. He followed Barry’s gaze and saw something red on Barry’s skin beneath his hand, mostly covered by where he was rubbing it. Len hadn’t thought about whether Barry could get scars, being able to heal, but seeing him with one made him think of his own. He’d received some as a kid, even gained some in Lisa’s place thanks to their father. The scars from being a criminal didn’t hurt as much as those did.  
“Hey,” he spoke softly and placed his hand over Barry’s. “We all have our scars.”  
Barry pulled his saddened gaze away from his scar and over to Len. “Thanks…Leonard.”  
Len scoffed. He forgot that he had told Barry about that. As Barry smiled at his unimpressed expression, Len knew that there was no asking him to forget he’d said anything. “Snart sounds better.”  
“I like Leonard, actually,” Barry admitted and relaxed with the change of subject. “It’s not as bad as Bartholomew.”  
Of course they had matching awful names; Len shouldn’t have expected anything less. He laughed, “Leonard and Bartholomew. We sound perfect for each other.”  
He didn’t realise what he’d said till he heard it out loud. He didn’t mean to flirt, but he wasn’t going to take it back. He looked over at Barry, expecting him to turn bright red like other times, but he was just smiling, looking at him like he’d hung the stars in the sky. It threw him off. He didn’t think he deserved to be looked at with so much warmth.  
“I should,” He scratched the back of neck out of habit and stood up, “get some more firewood.”

 

Barry smiled at Len, as he wandered off into the forest for more firewood. He didn’t know when he’d started liking Len differently, but he didn’t think it was going away anytime soon. Once he’d stopped being nervous around everyone and started enjoying himself more, things brightened. Len had danced with him, held him as they expected to drown, all things he didn’t have to do. He’d been charming from the beginning, but now Barry could see how, despite his determination to be the opposite, he was kind. It made Barry glad that he’d done this. Even if the lanterns weren’t all that he was expecting, these moments with Len would have been enough.

“Well, I thought he’d never leave.”  
Barry’s froze where he sat. He knew that voice.  
He rushed to his feet and turned behind him. “Father?”  
Eobard stepped out of the shadows where he’d been waiting to catch Barry alone. He lowered the hood of his cloak to show his face, his hair greying and face ageing without Barry’s magic to keep him young.  
“Hello, Barry.”  
Barry didn’t know what to say. He’d wandered what he would say to his father once he returned to the tower, but didn’t expect to see him before that. Any excuses and reasons he had come up with for himself seemed to have disappeared from his mind.  
“But I…” he stuttered to find something to say. “How did you find me?”  
Eobard crossed his arms and moved closer to Barry from the shadows so he could speak to him face on. “It was easy really. I just listened to the sound of _complete and utter betrayal,_ and followed that.”  
Barry winced. He knew that leaving against his father’s wishes wouldn’t go down well. “Father I…”  
“We’re going home, Barry. Now.” Eobard grabbed Barry’s arm without caring to hear his reasons for leaving. He tried dragging him away but Barry was quick to stand his ground.  
“Wait!” He stopped in his tracks, causing Eobard to turn to look at him.  
He didn’t think there was a way to speak that wouldn’t offend his father in some way, but he approached the issue carefully regardless. “I’m sorry for running away, but-”  
“You should be,” Eobard said. “You realise I had no idea where you were or if you were even alive?”  
“I know and I’m sorry-”  
“I’ve had enough with this fascination of yours with the outside world. We’re leaving.” Eobard tried pulling him away again.  
“Father I-”  
“Enough Barry-”  
“No!” He finally had enough and pulled himself forcefully out of his father’s grip to the man’s surprise. “Will you just listen to me, for once?”  
He expected another argument, another interruption as always, but his father stood silent in shock for a moment at being talked back to for the first time. He paused before crossing his arms and standing in silence, looking to Barry and waiting to hear what he had to say.  
Barry hadn’t thought Eobard would listen, but he didn’t waste the opportunity to speak his mind, regardless of why his father would let him. He straightened his back and tried to stay civil despite everything.  
“Okay. I know you told me I couldn’t do this but…I’ve actually done well out here. I’ve seen and learnt so much doing this. I know there are still dangers for me, there always will be, but…” he flexed his hand and thought of what he’d just been told. “We all have our scars. It’s dangerous, but I still have to do this.”  
Eobard didn’t look convinced, but listened anyway. Barry had always shown a streak of determination, even locked up in a tower.  
“Besides, I can’t go back yet,” Barry said. Despite his own dreams, he was a man of his word. “I haven’t done what I came out here to do and… I made a deal with Snart that I can’t go back on.”  
Eobard finally spoke up then. He scoffed, “Ah yes, the wanted thief. Leaving is one thing, but running off with that lying criminal-”  
“He’s not like that!” Barry jumped to his companion’s defence. “He’s kind and noble- he likes me for me, not what I can do. He wouldn’t hurt me…”  
He paused when he heard Eobard sigh and look at him with sympathy, as though he was something to be pitied.  
“I see now what’s going on.” He moved to stand closer to Barry so he could place a comforting hand on his shoulder.  
Barry didn’t understand the gesture, nor his father’s words. “What do you mean?”  
Eobard shook his head slightly as he looked down at Barry and how oblivious he was. “You love him, don’t you?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but there was nothing he could say. He didn’t know if he could call it love yet, but he cared for Len, more than he thought he would. He couldn’t say he _didn’t_ love him; because that would be a lie. It should have been a happy moment to put a word to his feelings, but his father always found a way to twist things. Watching Eobard pity him for his affections made them feel like a weight on his heart. He had taken such happiness in it before, and now it was being treated as something awful, a stupid mistake only he would make. He couldn’t look his father in the eye. He aimed his eyes at the ground, confirming Eobard’s suspicions.  
“Oh, Barry,” He placed his other hand on Barry’s other shoulder so he was directly in front of his son. “You fell for the first person you came across.”  
“What?,” he finally managed to say. “No, it’s not like that.”  
Eobard didn’t seem to hear him. “Barry, this whole romance you’ve invented will only lead to heartbreak. I told you people are cruel-”  
Barry didn’t want to hear it. He should have guessed his father would never have taken him seriously. He always treated his wish to see the lanterns as a child’s dream, and now his feelings for Len were reduced to that too, the hopeless longing of someone who doesn’t know better. He’d been learning to deal with that view of himself, the way he was made to think of his dreams. The thing that he wouldn’t agree with was what that meant about Leonard.  
“You,” he didn’t want to say it; he already knew he wouldn’t like the answer. “You don’t think he loves me, do you?”  
Eobard sighed. He cupped Barry’s face in his hand, a fickle attempt to hide harsh words with kind gestures. “Oh Barry. Love’s not what he wants from you.”  
Before he could say anything more, Barry physically recoiled from his touch. He stepped back and out of Eobard’s grip, not wanting to believe him, in words or actions.  
When Barry just stared at him, growing angrier the more he stood there, Eobard got tired of humouring him. “Barry, let’s just go home-”  
“No.”  
He rolled his eyes. “Stop acting like a child and-”  
“Go home without me,” Barry spat back, surprising both Eobard and himself. He was done listening when his father wouldn’t listen in return, wouldn’t care. He would prove him wrong. “I’m staying here.”  
Eobard stood there, for the first time not having Barry agree with him. With every conversation, he appeared to lose him more and more. He’d worked to build a structure around Barry and himself and now it was falling apart from the inside, all because Barry wanted to be free. He didn’t want to, but if he couldn’t get Barry to willing go back with him, he would have to make him come home on his own.  
If Barry had thought Eobard would be upset at his words, those thoughts disappeared when his father’s expression turned to malice.  
“Fine.”  
Eobard reached into his cloak and pulled something out. “Then you’d better give him this.”  
Barry recognised it as Len’s satchel. “How did you find that?”  
“Does it matter?” He tossed it to Barry who caught it in shaky hands. He opened it up and the crown shined back at him from within.  
“You know that thief is only here for the crown. He’s deceiving you if you think he’s here for anything else.”  
“Stop it,” Barry replied through gritted teeth. He didn’t look his father in the eye. His eyes stayed on the ground, but he could tell his father was walking over to him. Once he was in front of him, Barry finally looked him in the eye.  
“If he loves you, then give it to him.”  
“Maybe I will.”  
Eobard scoffed at Barry’s faith. “He’ll leave you the second you do.”  
Barry didn’t give him a reply; he knew he wouldn’t listen anyway. Eobard waited to see if Barry would change his mind, but it didn’t happen. Barry stood his ground and the pair stood at odds in the silence till Eobard started to back away, sure he would get his way in the end.  
“I won’t say I told you so.”  
As Eobard started to leave, Barry looked back down at the satchel in his hands. All his life he’d been told that people outside of his tower were liars and monsters, and now that he thought he’d found one who cared for him, his father was still there to prove him wrong. He wanted to tell himself that Len wouldn’t manipulate him like that, wouldn’t break his heart, but there was still a part of him that was afraid of his father being right. Barry was always told he was naive for hoping, that father always knew best.  
The crown in his hands was no longer something beautiful. All it was was uncertainty.  
“If he’s lying, don’t come crying to me.”  
“Papa-” He looked up but there was no one there, just the empty forest staring back at him. That was it. If Len’s lying then there was no going home.  
He didn’t notice himself shaking.

 

“I wanted to ask,” Len said as he wandered back to their camp, firewood in his arms. “Do you think I’ll get super strength in my hand because that would be great.”  
He joked as he placed the wood next to the fire, but lost his humour when he saw Barry sitting there, looking into the fire with no emotion on his face.  
“You okay?” He asked softly, not to startle him from his trace.  
Barry pulled himself from his thoughts and looked to Len as though he had just realised he was there. He spoke in a stutter. “Y-yeah. Just…lost in thought I guess.”  
Len didn’t believe him. “Barry, you’re shaking.”  
“It’s just the cold,” Barry was quick to say in his defence.  
Len moved from his spot by the fireplace and sat down next to Barry. He wrapped an arm around his shoulder to stop him shaking and Barry seemed to relax with the contact. He let his eyes fall closed and rested his head on Len’s shoulder, curling into the touch and letting his exhaustion take over. Len didn’t expect it, but certainly didn’t have any objections.  
He could tell something was on Barry’s mind, but he decided not to ask him about it and let him sleep. He switched between watching the fire crackle in front of him, and looking over at Barry at his side, seeing him finally find some calm in the craziness they had been through. He looked so peaceful; Len didn’t want to move in fear of waking him up. He had more questions, but for the evening he was content to simply sit with him.

 

From where Eobard and the Mardon brothers were waiting in the trees, they could see where Barry had hidden the satchel away from Len’s view before he’d arrived. Though Eobard could see his son curled up in Len’s arms, he knew that he was still a step closer to getting him to come home. Barry may not have gone with him, but his words had still hit a chord and kept Barry from giving Snart the satchel yet.  
He could see the brothers were impatiently waiting next to him, wanting to go over while the couple were unprepared, but Eobard was quick to stick to his plan.  
“Patience, gentlemen,” he lent his arm out to block their path. “All good things to those who wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay  
> Structurally, this is a shitshow. The part with Thawne and Barry is super messy but I had a lot of stuff I wanted to cover in that convo so sorry bout it.  
> Eobard is a mega jerk. he's basically trying to make Barry doubt his self worth so much and twist his optimism into naivety and childishness. He doesn't ship it, so wants Barry to not trust Len's true intentions. Our boys are in love tho so get wrecked Thawne. 
> 
> Next: Len and Barry arrive in Corona, and they're not alone.


	10. Kingdom Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't dieeeeeeeeee surprise it's a me  
> I'll chat after the chapter so just enjoy this shoddy and rushed piece of rubbish xxxx

Len was happily sleeping on the grassy forest floor till, of course, something had to go and ruin it for him. He felt something against his neck as he lay on his back, and cracked his eyes open just enough to see the sunlight through the trees above. Once he fully opened them, he wasn’t surprised to see what he didn’t want to have seen.  
Joe West stood over him with a sword under Len’s chin. He didn’t look happy.  
“Get up.”  
Len expected West to find him at some point, he just wished it hadn’t been when he was trying to nap.  
“Well,” with his hands behind his head and still relaxed on the grass, he closed his eyes again. “I hope you’re here to apologise.”  
He was pulled awake, literally, by Joe grabbing the front of his shirt. It was enough to wake him up and as soon as he was pulled up to his face, he head butter him. Each man went tumbling backwards and tried to shake off the pain in their heads.  
“Bastard,” Joe said under his breath.  
Len straightened himself up again as soon as possible, ready for a fight, and he watched Joe do the same. Each was prepared to fight off the other, so neither expected it when they were interrupted by another voice.  
“Hey!”  
Each looked over and found Barry getting up from where he was sleeping, fumbling for a frying pan and racing to stand between them. Len was telling him to stand behind him, but Barry didn’t listen and stood between the two men, knowing that was the only thing to get them to pause for a second.  
He aimed his frying pan at West, who was staring at him.  
Joe was caught completely off-guard. He knew Len was travelling with someone since he saw him at the dam but didn’t get to see a face, so that wasn’t what was so surprising. It was how the young man bore such a striking resemblance to King Henry. Joe knew him when they were young men and this kid shared so many of his features. It was unnerving.  
“Who are you?” He asked, not thinking over whether the kid would answer honestly.  
Len was about to tell Barry not to say anything, but Barry spoke up anyway.  
“Who are you?” He asked Joe in return, trying not to sound defensive and failing. “You just turned up out of nowhere and attacked my friend!”  
Joe couldn’t argue because that was exactly what he’d just done. “I am the King’s head of security and this man is a wanted criminal. The last thing he should be is your friend.”  
“I have more reason to trust him than you right now.”  
Joe tried reasoning with the young man, but seeing Len give him a smug grin from behind him wasn’t helping.  
“Look,” he tried speaking calmly but knew he wasn’t succeeding too well. “As a King’s guard, I can’t leave you with this man. It’s not safe for you-”  
“I’m not leaving with you if that’s your plan, West,” Len tried stepping between Joe and Barry, but the younger man leant an arm out to stop him.  
“Okay,” Barry raised his hands between the pair as they kept glaring at each other waiting for an opportunity to strike. “I get that you two don’t like each other. But I need to get to Corona and Len and I already made a deal.”  
Joe tried not to laugh at that. “Whatever he’s promised you, don’t trust. he’ll turn his back on you as soon as he gets what he wants.”  
Len was prepared to punch him, regardless of how his statement would have been true most of the time. Barry, however, wasn’t one of those times. “And what do you want, West?”  
“Hey!” Barry yelled over the pair. He was sick of this when he was so close to where he wanted to be. “How about you stop arguing about what’s best for me and let me talk?”  
Neither man wanted to shut up, but knew that they should listen to Barry. He was, after all, the person between them. When there was silence, and both Len and Joe were looking anywhere but at each other, Barry relaxed a little.  
“Alright. I have to go to Corona, and neither of you want me to go with the other person. So…our only option is that you both come with me.”  
Both men immediately started talking again about the many reasons this was a bad idea, but Barry didn’t bother to listen. He rolled his eyes and continued, louder.  
“We don’t have another option. West, either you come with us and try not to get Snart arrested, or we leave without you.”  
Barry and Joe locked eyes. Barry knew that Joe would be the harder man to persuade. Len was just as unhappy with the situation, but he wanted Barry to be happy so he hoped Len would be willing to endure a day with Joe. To Barry’s relief, his hope was proved right. From behind him, Len rolled his eyes and leaned out his hand to Joe to shake on this agreement. Joe just stared at it.  
“It’s also my birthday.” Barry added after a silence. “Just so you know.”  
Joe glared at Len’s hand for another moment. Barry was right about him having a lack of options, but that didn’t mean he had to like his only one. Barry was the right age and appearance to be the prince, and even just admitted that today was his birthday, the same as the lost prince’s. It was a long shot. Even if he was wrong, leaving him with Snart would be a bad decision regardless of who he was. He wasn’t happy to do it, but he returned Len’s handshake.  
“Just for today,” he told them.  
Len nodded and Barry finally smiled.  
Joe looked at the odd pair for a moment longer, before letting out a sigh at the whole situation. “We better get moving then. We’re nearly at Corona.”  
He started moving off in the direction of the city. Barry had to take a breath after the realisation that he was finally going to Corona today. He would see the lanterns today.  
He was staring after Joe and only broke from his thoughts when a hand was laid on his shoulder. He looked over to see Len come to stand next to him.  
“Happy birthday.”

 

The city of Corona was completely surrounded by water with the main entrance being over a stone bridge from the forest. It was at the edge of this forest that Barry stood, itching to enter. It looked as magical as he had expected. The city was tall as though built onto a mountain, with cascades of green trees and houses spotting the landscape. It stood against a blue morning sky and radiated colour, like one of Barry’s paintings. For the lost prince’s birthday, the city was covered in festivities and everyone was out to celebrate.  
He stood staring at it so he didn’t register Len looking at him. When he remembered that he wasn’t alone, he looked at Len and waited for his guide to tell him their next action. Len just smirked at him.  
“You can go in.” He gestured towards the city with a nod of his head and Barry’s eyes followed in that direction.  
Barry looked back to Len for a second, expecting a catch or a reason he shouldn’t just barrel in. None came. With a final second to look at the city from the outside again, he left the forest edge and raced across the bridge, smiling.  
Len laughed to himself being Barry sprint as fast as he could without showing his powers. It would have been fun if not for Joe West who was still stood next to him.  
He began marching across the stone bridge also. “We gotta keep an eye on this kid.”  
Len wasn’t worried. “I’m sure he’ll find us in the nick of time if he gets lost.”  
Joe just grunted and the pair walked over the bridge, keeping an eye on both the horizon for guards and on the path for Barry. Once inside the city, the men saw Barry grinning ear to ear and racing back and forth through stores and market stalls, trying to soak in all that he could for the one day he would be there. Before long he noticed them at the gates and skidded over to them, stopping in front of Len.  
“This place is amazing!” He turned to point out each thing as he saw them. “They have stalls of flowers, and shops just full of books! Only books! Oh! - They have food and-”  
Len laughed with him as he got excited over every new thing. While Barry talked, he pulled out a small pouch of money. He took Barry’s hand and it finally stopped him talking long enough to place the money in his palm.  
“That should last you the day.”  
Barry thanked him before racing back into the festivities, book shop first. Leonard smiled after him till he noticed Joe looking at him and he returned to the glare he usually gave people.  
He raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t steal the money if that’s why you’re staring.”  
Joe crossed his arms and resisted the urge to sigh. “I just worked out why you’re doing this.”  
“I doubt that, West.” Len started walking round, keeping eyes on the crowd. Joe unfortunately followed him.  
“I have two kids, Snart,” he reminded him. “I think I know what a crush looks like.”  
Leonard scoffed. “I don’t have a crush.”  
He stopped in front of a market stall selling cakes and asked for four. Joe was certain that Snart liked Barry, but decided to drop it for now. “Why four? There’s only three of us.”  
Snart bought them and turned round to Joe with a look of feigned confusion. “You’re not getting any.”  
As though called, Barry popped up in front of them with a new book and a token cloth with the golden sun of Corona sown onto it. Len leaned out the cakes to him and the kid quickly shuffled his new gifts into the bag on his back.  
Joe was going to question why he needed four and how Len knew he would need them when he heard a familiar voice. He looked back and saw Raymond and two other guards wondering the streets as they typically would. He quickly nudged Len and the other man looked over his shoulder to see Ray.  
Leonard rolled his eyes. Of course Ray was here to mess up his plans. He and Joe shared a wordless conversation in one look before Len casually slipped off into a nearby alley with enough darkness to hide him. Joe couldn’t help but think about how Snart must have done that to escape him time and time again. It was odd being on the other end of it.  
“Barry-” he turned back to the kid, surprised to see all four cakes gone in a minute. “Let’s walk a bit.”  
Barry saw Len’s absence and the approaching guards and seemed to click what was happening because he nodded and they started walking away from Ray as casually as they could. They wandered along the streets for a bit before Barry stopped.  
On the wall was a mosaic, in bright colours against the light stone background. It wasn’t the people around it that drew him to it, nor the flowers laid at it’s base like a grave marker. It was the faces in the mosaic. A man and woman stood with a child, smiling and looking at the person stood before the mosaic as though to invite them to be a part of the scene. They wore formal attire and crowns so he guessed who they were easily.  
“That’s the royal family?” He asked Joe who stood silently next to him.  
Joe nodded. He watched the young man cautiously, waiting to see if he saw in this the same thing that he saw in Barry when they met.  
“What happened?" He asked. There wasn’t anything obvious to tell him that something was wrong, but the air of sadness around the mosaic told him that something was different here to the rest of the celebrations.  
Joe watched for Barry’s reactions as he spoke. “King Henry and Queen Nora had a son. Before he even got a name he was stolen from them. We hold this celebration on his birthday in the hope he’ll come home to his family.”  
Barry was listening, but his eyes were fixed on the faces looking back at him. He couldn’t figure out what it was, but something was nagging at him. It was as though he was looking at a piece of a puzzle and trying to place it in the bigger picture, with no avail.  
Joe could see his questions, though unspoken. He hoped they would come to the same conclusions. “Do you have a family to go home to, Barry?”  
He opened his mouth to speak, not knowing what he would say, when his mind clicked back into the normal world with the sound of music. He turned round as a trio of musicians passed, heading to the main square and momentarily forgot about the mosaic. It was probably nothing to do with him anyway. He bounded off after them, leaving Joe to sigh and walk behind him. Before long Snart snuck out of the shadows again and joined Joe. They reached the square and of course Barry was in the middle of it, dancing while the trio played on.  
Soon others began to join in. First children decided to dance along and then the grown up followed suit. As the dance grew, Barry moved over to Len and Joe.  
“Join us!”  
Finally the pair agreed on something: not wanting to dance.  
“I don’t dance,” Len said and Joe nodded in agreement.  
Barry just smirked at him, they way Len would at him. “You danced with me at Saints and Sinners.”  
Len didn’t have a good comeback to that. Plus, Joe’s smile at hearing this didn’t make it any better. Before he could say it was a one time thing, Joe shoved him forward towards the dance. Barry took the opportunity immediately and grabbed Len’s arm the second he moved forward and pulled him towards the music. Len rolled his eyes when he heard Joe laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI GUYS  
> Okay so I know its been like 3 or 4 months but I've just done my first semester at Uni and its been intense. I've been doing work, started Jiu Jitsu, got a girlfriend, its been a lot.  
> I haven't had time to write but I've been trying and thinking about it so I haven't forgotten all you lovely people. Now I'm on Christmas holiday I'm gonna try and write as much as I can so be prepared for more fan fiction wooooooooooooo  
> Also guys I wanna write Leo and Ray fan fiction cos our baby Snart likes boys in canon let's party it's real  
> Hope you all enjoyed (this chapter I've been writing for months so it's awfullllllllll) and expect more soon xxxx


	11. Now That I See You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Words cannot do the lantern scene justice but here it is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is basically pure fluffy mush so enjoy. I haven't listened to I See The Light on purpose so I can hear it anew for writing this chapter, that's how nervous I was for writing this. Its a shorter but important chapter.

Evening settled over the city far too soon. Barry had been been sad to leave the main part of the city, but Len insisted that the best view of the lanterns was from the water. He was untying the boat and preparing it to get on the water, while Joe and Barry sat on a pier with the city standing across the water in front of them.  
“I don't agree with Snart on most things but,” Joe looked out over the water. “This is the best view. You’ll have the best seat in the house.”  
“You’re not joining us?” Barry asked. He had guessed already that Joe wouldn’t join them.  
“I’ve seen the lights for eighteen years. I’ll stay here.” Joe started getting up from where he sat next to Barry. “Besides, you two probably want to be alone.”  
Barry blushed a little. He definitely wanted to have this moment with Len alone, but he didn’t think he was being obvious. “Thanks.”  
Joe stood and watched Snart finish up on the boat before deciding to test his luck. “If I leave you two alone, will you do something for me?”  
Barry turned from the water’s edge to face Joe and nodded.  
“Can I take you to see the King and Queen tomorrow?”  
Barry couldn’t help the soft laugh that came out of his mouth. “I thought we were avoiding the guards? Besides, why would they want to see me?”  
Joe paused and debated telling Barry his suspicions. He didn’t want to give Henry and Nora false hope, but Barry ticked every box. It just made too much sense for Barry to be their son. All he had to do was get him to them and he was sure that Barry would see the truth.  
Yet, despite his certainty that Barry was the prince, he didn’t tell Barry that thought. He was worried that the possibility would scare him off, another reason to leave Joe behind and run away with Len without another word. It was better to lie now and find the truth later.  
“The King and Queen are so sad this time of year, that I think seeing your happiness would raise their spirits a little.”  
Barry gave him an uncertain look. Joe signed. “Think about it?”  
Barry could at least do that. He nodded. Joe laid a hand of reassurance on his shoulder and wandered off the pier and back towards the city, thinking of how best to breach the subject to the royal couple.

 

When Len and Barry’s boat sat in the middle of the water, looking off to the city now cloaked in darkness, the pair held the breath.  
“You okay?” Snart asked, seeing Barry’s eyes pinned to the city.  
Barry spoke in almost a whisper. “I’m terrified.”  
“Why?"  
Barry didn’t see how he couldn’t be. “I’ve been looking out a window all my life, wondering what it’s like to see these lights. What if…it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?”  
Leonard recognised that kind of fear. Any leap of faith is daunting and being at the gates of all you’ve been hoping for is a leap into the dark. He laid a hand on Barry’s arm. “It will be.”  
“And what if it is?” Barry turned his gaze over to Len. He looked at him as though his eyes would tell him everything he needed to know. Even if the lanterns and his dream were perfect, he had no idea what to do once those lights went out. He didn’t know if he had anywhere to go to, or if he even had anywhere he wanted to be. How could he go back to his old life when he knew what was on the other side of it? It was terrifying. “What do I do then?”  
Len couldn’t tell him what to do next. He could light a path, but it was up to Barry to walk it. He knew where he wanted him to be when this was all over, but the world seemed too small for someone like Barry. “That’s the good part, I guess. You get to go find a new dream.”

 

Nora held neck piece of the golden sun of Corona in her hand and laid it around her husband’s neck for everyone to see. It shone and she tried to feel proud, as seeing such a thing should make her feel, but nothing healed the emptiness. She looked up to Henry and found him looking at the floor. The grey in his hair, the bowing of his head, glimmer of a tear in his eye - he looked tired. Pained. She had seen his sorrow too many times, in his face and her own.  
With a gentle hand she cupped her husband’s face tried to stay strong when she felt him lean into it. She lifter her other hand to wipe a tear away. One day it would be the last she would have to wipe away, she was sure. She gave him a smile, small but sure, and he managed to pull himself to look her in the eye. When he smiled, it was for her hope. Maybe if the kept hoping, it would make a difference.

They stood on the balcony of the palace that overlooked the city. Amongst all the darkness, they stood in front of a single lantern with the sun of Corona on it, a sign that this lantern was their’s. They hoped it would be the last.  
With a gentle push they each laid a hand under it and slowly raised it into the air. It caught in the air and the light floated off from them, away towards the city and the world beyond their home.  
Once this first light was lit, more followed. The citizens in the streets beneath let their’s rulers’ light be their guide and released their lanterns to join it. Once the first was overhead, the city released more to join in. The light rippled through the streets as the people raised up a lantern each to fill the darkness with warmth. It ran like water down the roads of the city till it reached the water itself.

 

The first light Barry saw, was a reflection in the dark water, just a spec of white. It took him a second, but he looked up from the water to see a small spot of light above the city. He thought he might tip the boat when he moved so quickly to get to the edge, desperate to catch the scene. Soon from the ground of the city, specs of yellow and white began to join it, slowly drifting from the streets into the night air to join their leader. The ships around the bay released lanterns to join the others, the lights floated up from the windows of houses, and from each dark area came a warm light.  
It was as though the stars were rising up to take their place in the night sky. The warmth coming from the candles seemed to find their way into Barry’s heart as he gazed at them in awe. They reflected on the water’s surface and floated in the air around them, circling the boat and city in a blanket of glowing light.  
Barry felt more at peace that he ever had before. The colours on his walls were now in the air around him. The light from far out the window was now glowing around him. He was where he was meant to be, with the world around him, with the lights…and with Len.  
He turned around to face the inside of the boat and saw Leonard sat there smiling at him with two lanterns, one for each of them. Barry returned the smile and shuffled to sit opposite him, close in the small space of their ship. He looked between them and forgot the fear he’d been holding onto, not just about the lights but about everything. It all felt small compared to the emotion he had now.  
“I have something for you too,” he said and from under his seat he pulled out the satchel containing the crown. “I was going to give it to you sooner but I was just scared. And the thing is - I’m not scared anymore. Get what I mean?”  
Len had forgotten about it. He looked at it in Barry’s hand and wondered how he had forgotten about it. This was what he came on this journey for, the crown. Yet sat there with Barry, it didn’t matter. He was no longer there for money, he was there for Barry.  
He reached out, but instead of taking it, he lowered the satchel from between them and it was dropped, discarded into the bottom of the boat. “I’m starting to.”  
Len gently held out a lantern to Barry, which he took. The shared a look before each releasing their lanterns into the sky. They watched the lights rise up, staying side by side as they floated in the sea of lanterns around them.  
A light came close, one with a sun pattern on it, and Barry leaned over the edge of the boat to push it back into the sky where it belonged. He smiled watching it glide away into the night, only brought away when Len took his hand.  
“Come with me.”  
Barry pulled his focus from the lights to Len. They sat close together in the boat and turned from the edge to sit facing his companion, who held his hand in his. “What?”  
Len didn’t know what he was saying. It was just instincts. Barry wasn’t afraid anymore, maybe he was feeling the same.  
“I mean when this is all over. Do you want to stay with me?”  
Barry hadn’t expected that. He didn’t seem able to speak, but luckily Len continued.  
“I know I don’t have much…well anything. But we have a family. Lisa and Mick may not seem like it now, but they can be your family too.”  
He held Barry’s hands as though they were his heart. “It’s okay if you want to go back to the tower. We’ll do what you want but…you should have a choice.”  
Len tightened his lips to stop himself from saying anything else. He had already said more than he would normally dare to Barry, or to anyone in fact. He wasn’t known for having a heart, let alone putting his heart on the line. He didn’t know if he had done the right thing in making the offer, but Barry really did deserve to choose.  
And Barry knew exactly what he wanted. That terrifying future did have a light after all.  
“I think I want to stay with you.”  
Len looked at him as though he’d heard him wrong. When he spoke, it was as if he was warning Barry not to make a stupid decision, despite it being the one he wanted him to make. “Are you sure?”  
Barry laughed to himself. He freed one of his hands from Len’s grip to hold his face. With a smile he assured him that this was what he wanted. “I’m sure.”  
Len smiled back at him, a whole future sat before them. With shaky breath, he closed the gap between them and kissed him. It was quick, a soft first brush of lips and over just as soon as it began. Barry forgot to breathe for that second of time. When he breathed again, he looked at Len, and they shared a look, one of a shared loss of fear.  
When Len kissed him again it was a rush. Barry’s hand moved from the side of Len’s face, to wrap his arms around Len’s neck. Len released his hold on Barry’s other hand and held Barry’s waist, both in an attempt to pull the other closer. It was a rush of emotion, all the worries and hidden feelings melting away with the lights that floated to the sky.  
When they finally had to pull away for air, Barry couldn’t stop smiling. His eyes stayed closed, living in the moment a little longer. When Len opened his, it was a punch to the gut.  
He could see the Mardon brothers on the beach, watching him in darkness and waiting. They knew he had the crown. He didn’t need it anymore though. He could give it to them and they’d finally be free.  
He spoke in a whisper. “We should head to shore.”  
Barry nodded but laid his head against Len’s shoulder to watch the lights and stay in his arms for a moment more. “One more minute?”  
Len kept his eyes on the brothers, but was determined to make them wait. “Okay. One more minute.”  
Barry watched the last of the lights disappear in the night, his head laid on Len’s shoulder; and though Len wasn’t afraid of the brothers, he still held Barry a little tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry to ruin the mush at the end with the brothers. Treasure this cos its all downhill from here! Also I haven't read this more that once cos I was itching to release it so sorry for grammar/spelling mistakes and outright bad writing xx


	12. What Once Was Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start to fall apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Have some pain!

Len docked the boat on the beach where he’d seen the brothers, a shore away from the city with the forest alongside it. He stopped the boat quickly, not hoping to stay long, and hopped out. Barry still sat inside.  
“I’m sorry about this,” he said, grabbing the satchel with the crown from inside the boat. “There’s just something I need to do.”  
Barry just looked at him. Len knew it looked suspicious, wandering off with the crown and no reason why.  
“Okay,” Barry said. He sounded uncertain, but didn’t move to stop Len from going. He stayed sat in the boat and trusted Len when he said he had to do this.  
Leonard didn’t think he deserved that much faith. “I’ll be right back.”  
Barry nodded and watched Len slowly step away from the boat and make his way out of sight in the fog along the water’s edge.

 

Leonard eventually wandered far enough into the fog to find the brothers. Mark was sat on a rock, sharpening a knife that Len guessed was for him if he didn’t comply.  
“Long time no see, Mark.”  
Mark stopped his action and glared up at Len. Len guessed that meant they weren’t in the mood for his usual antics.  
“Alright. Maybe I shouldn’t have ditched you guys. The crown is all yours,” He threw the satchel over the sand to Mark’s feet but the other man made no move to get it. Len didn’t pay it much mind though. “Now we can go our separate ways.”  
He turned to leave and found his way blocked by Clyde. He didn’t move to let Len pass. They weren’t done yet.  
Finally Mark spoke up. “We heard you found something. Something much more valuable than a crown.”  
He got up and walked straight over the satchel and crown. He stopped behind Len so the brothers were blocking him from running off on both sides. Len looked between them and stood on edge, ready to fight his way out if he had to.   
“We want the kid instead.”  
Len spoke through gritted teeth. “Over my dead body.”  
The brothers shared a look before turning back to Len. “That was the plan.”

 

Barry stood by the boat, glaring at his feet in the sand. He had faith in Leonard but it still wasn’t fun to wait for him to get back. He felt on edge. It was black over the water’s edge as the lanterns had all floated away or gone out by now. In their place was a layer of fog that didn't provide the same comfort that the glow of the lights had.  
Barry crushed his foot more into the sand. He crossed his arms over his chest. He was starting to get worried.  
Then he heard something from off into the fog. He looked up to see a shadow in the fog. A person.  
He breathed a sigh of relief. “I was starting to think you’d run off with the crown and left me.”  
He laughed a little, but it was short lived. The shadow in the fog slowly became clearer. The one figure became two and neither were Leonard.   
As they got closer, Barry stepped into the middle of the sand to run away if he had to. He could out run anyone, but wouldn’t leave without Len. As the men became clearer, he recognised them as the brothers from the dam. Len had said they weren’t friends, so that meant they weren’t his friends either. They stood in front of him and Barry had one foot turned behind him, ready to run. The brothers just returned his glare with devilish smiles.  
“He did.”  
“What?” Barry didn’t believe them. “Why would he do that?”  
“We made a deal,” Clyde started walking closer and Barry moved backwards. “He got to keep the crown…and we get you.”  
Barry stopped in his tracks. He hands bawled into fists at his side. “Why would you want me?”  
“Well, having magic healing sounds like something someone would pay a lot of money for.”  
They knew. Barry had been warned that people would want to use his powers for their own means if they found him. There was no pretending now.  
“Where’s Snart?" He asked, certain that Len wouldn’t have traded him for money. There was no way they were telling the truth.  
Yet, Mark gestured with one arm to the waters next to them. “See for yourself.”  
Barry was uncertain. He tried not to take his eyes away from the men, but he did look quickly to the water. He stopped when he saw something.   
There was a ship sailing away, but close enough that he could make out a figure at the wheel in the fog.   
“Leonard?” Barry would recognise him even in the growing darkness. He forgot that he wasn’t alone, and only saw the ship. He edged closer to the water to try and see it better, hoping he was wrong in what he saw. He wasn’t. It was Snart at the wheel, his back to the beach and heading towards the city.   
“Leonard!” He tried yelling, but got no reply. It was a punch to the gut. He had been so certain that Len wouldn’t leave him, that he had grown to love him back. He didn’t want to believe what was right in front of him. It hurt too much.  
He was so focused on Len that he didn’t hear the brothers behind him. Before he could run away there was bag over his head. He felt one of the brothers grab him from behind. He started yelling and fighting back. He managed to kick off one of the attackers but couldn’t fight off the other who still held him. His arms were stuck to his sides.   
He kept struggling and felt the brother try to drag him away, when his grip suddenly loosened and Barry pushed himself free. The force of it made him stumble into the sand. He raced to stand up and pulled off his hood.  
The brothers were both unconscious. He may have kicked one to the ground but he couldn’t have stopped the other like that. He looked at them in the sand for a moment when a hand touched his shoulder.  
He whipped round to see Thawne.  
“Father?”  
He barely had time to comprehend what had happened when Thawne pulled him into a hug. “Thank goodness you’re safe. Are you hurt?”  
He pulled away to check Barry’s face for injuries. The young man just tried to wrap his head around what he was seeing. “You’re…how did you find me?”  
Eobard lied. “I was so worried, leaving you with that criminal. So I followed you. Then I saw those men attack you and…I’m just glad we fought them off.”  
Barry felt relieved that his father had been there. He also started to feel guilt. He’d thought his father would never welcome him back after he’d run away, but he’d been watching him and keeping him safe. He’d been right to be worried.  
“We should move quickly, before they wake up,” Eobard spoke and looked at the brothers again before heading to the edge of the forest where he had a lantern.  
Barry watched him go but didn’t move. He felt as though his thoughts were still a few steps behind. He turned behind him to look back at the small shadow on the water, disappearing into the fog.   
It felt like a weight crushing down on his chest. Len had really left him. He hadn’t wanted to believe it, but now he saw the ship disappear, and along with it any hope that he’d been wrong. He felt his eyes start to go blurry with tears. Len had danced with him, held him, protected him from everyone. He’d been his first kiss. It was devastating to have all that mean nothing to Len.   
He tried to hold back tears and slowly turned to look behind him. Thawne stood on the edge of the trees with a single lantern. Barry looked to him, hoping he would have a way to make the pain go away, but Eobard just placed his lantern on the grass and sighed. He held out his arms and Barry felt his composure go. He sped into his father’s arms and started crying.  
“You were right, Papa,” Barry said through sniffs and tears. Thawne had said that Len only stayed with him to get the crown, that he was a liar. He’d said Len didn’t love him back. “You were right about everything.”  
Eobard carefully picked up the lantern again, keeping an arm around his crying son. “I know.”  
Still trying to keep in his tears, Barry let his father lead the way, walking back into the dark forest where they came, the forest he shouldn’t have left. He didn’t look back to the city. He didn’t look back at the water where he’d seen the lights, or watched his love go.

 

When Len woke up, it was with a rush of pain. Before he even looked around, he could feel something wasn’t right. He opened his eyes and saw immediately what was wrong. He was on a ship he didn’t recognise, with his hands tied to the steering wheel. The crown was also tied into his hand and he was attached with rope round his torso to the mast of the ship so he was in a standing position.   
He looked up and found that he’d been woken up by the ship hitting a pier in the main bay of Corona, away from the beach where he’d last been. He didn’t remember getting overpowered, but he remember the Mardon brothers and how they wanted Barry.  
Barry. Len tried turning in the stupid hope that Barry was on the ship with him, but he could barely move with the rope keeping him in place. He tried pulling himself free but to no avail.  
“Barry!” He tried yelling, but got no reply. He had to get back to the beach. He had to find Barry. After a moment of struggling, he started to hear other voices. None of them were a voice he wanted to hear. The royal guards had found him.

 

The guards untied Snart and dragged him out of the ship while Iris watched. She thought she would feel happier to see an enemy of the crown captured, but something felt off about this.   
Then she heard what Snart was yelling to the guards as he tried to fight them off.  
“You don’t understand! They’ve got Barry! They could still be on the beach! You just have to let me go!”  
The guards didn’t listen, but Iris did. Cisco had told her about a young man called Barry who’d visited the Saints and Sinners. It’d been necessary to question the people in the pub after the dam had broken.  
“Joe West can vouch for me, just let me go, bastards!” Len kept yelling and trying to kick the men off him.   
Iris couldn’t free him. He was a notorious criminal and she had no evidence that anyone was really in danger. Yet, she still felt something was wrong. He’d said her father would support his claims, despite him having always hated the other man. It didn’t fit. It made sense for it to be a lie. Yet she’d seen Snart lie and manipulate his way out of things. This fear was genuine.   
She didn’t see another option but to check if he was telling the truth. He’d mentioned the beach - she’d start there.

 

When Iris reached the water’s edge, it didn’t take long to scout through the fog and find what she’d been looking for. She found a figure in the darkness near the ground. She silently pulled her sword out of its sheath at her hip and prepared for a fight. Luckily, the face she saw in the fog was a friendly one.  
“Dad?”  
Joe knelt on the ground, placing manacles on the Mardon brothers who still laid unconscious. He looked up when he heard his daughters voice and got up to join her.  
“Iris? What are you doing here?”  
“Checking out a hunch.” She looked over his shoulder to see the criminals and guessed that they were the ‘they’ Snart had been worried about. Maybe he had been telling the truth. “What’s going on?”  
Joe looked over at the boat he recognised as Barry and Len’s. He turned back to Iris and tried to convince her of his side. “I think we have friends in danger. This will sound crazy, but we need to find Snart. I think-”  
“Barry’s in danger.” She finished his thought, putting pieces together. Snart had told the truth about her dad being on his side, it was all looking to be true.  
Her comment took her father by surprise. “You know Barry?”  
“Snart mentioned he was in trouble.”  
“When?”  
“When-” she paused when she realised what was going to happen next. “When the guards found him. They’ll hang him at first light.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  
> I'm sorry to throw this angst at you right at the end of the year, but we all knew this was coming. I had the brothers jump Barry by surprise because otherwise he would have sped away and we can't have that. With Lenny caught by the guards, Joe and Iris have to find a way to help him and Barry, who's stuck with Eobard who is just the worst.  
> Well, after all the fluff of the last chapter you all can have a helpful of pain. Pls don't hate me! ;)


	13. Heal What Has Been Hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beginning of the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH  
> this is messy but I wanted to post something

Len wasn’t sure how long he’d been sat in a cell in the castle, but it had been too long. He’d been captured while it was still dark and now it was light, so a few hours at least. He didn’t know anything about what was going on beyond the bars containing him. He wasn’t sure if someone had found Barry and the brothers or if anyone was even looking for them. He hoped Joe would be smart enough to work out something was wrong, but he wasn’t going to bet on it.  
He sat against the bars of the cell door, watching the hallway that led the guards through the different cells. He’d looked over the bars on the window and doors several times to find a way to break out but had had no luck. There wasn’t anything for him to do but wait, but the last thing he felt he could do was sit around and hope for the best. He was too on edge. He tried sitting and waiting, tapping his pinky ring against the bars out of habit. A few guards hand told him not so politely to be quiet. He’d said something even less polite back.  
He was pulled from his thoughts when he started hearing things from outside the window. He dragged himself to his feet and away from his post at the bars to investigate. He reached the bars and wished he hadn’t got up. His cell overlooked a courtyard within the castle grounds that had been empty when he’d been thrown behind bars. Now, a few guards were dragging in materials, and with one, a rope.

 

“So, let me see if I’ve got this right,” Ray said, more to himself than Joe or Iris who he was standing with. “You want to free Snart, after years of trying to capture him?”  
“Right now he’s our best lead to finding Barry.” Joe knew it sounded ridiculous, but it was honestly their best option. Len knew Barry best. If they wanted any hope of finding him, they would need Snart.  
Joe and Iris were filling in Ray on the situation while they walked through the corridors of the castle on their way to see the King and Queen. Most of the guards wouldn’t understand or believe them, but Ray was someone they both trusted. Besides that, he was the highest ranking member of the royal guard other than Joe, so he was needed to keep Len from the noose.  
“You know I can’t just free him? It’ll take time, royal approval-”  
“I can convince Henry and Nora to free him,” Joe said with certainty.  
“Really? He’s been wanted for years and stole the only thing they had left of their son. Not to mention that a pardon will take too long to procure and we don’t know if Snart or this Barry person have that long.”  
Joe knew they had little time and options. He tried to keep a clear head through the situation, but he was running out of patience. “We have to try it. I’ll speak to Henry. Ray, stall the hanging for as long as you can.”  
He didn’t wait for someone to speak and started walking to the throne room, leaving Iris and Ray looking after him.  
“Joe,” Ray called. He would help anyone, but needed to know why Joe was losing his mind and years of catching Snart to help him. “Why do you care so much about this one kid?”  
Joe sighed but didn’t stop moving. He supposed there was no use in not telling them. “I think he’s the prince.”  
He disappeared around the corner before Iris and Ray could question him on this. They shared a look of equal concern.  
“If he is the prince then we don’t have time to wait for a pardon for Snart. We need to find him before we lose him forever,” Iris said and Ray agreed.  
“So what do we do?”  
If they did nothing, Len could be hanged and they wouldn’t know where Barry is, losing them both. If they waited, Len could be pardoned, but Barry could disappear for good. Their only option was to get Len out before they give Barry time to escape.  
Iris sighed. If they were going to get Len out, it was going to be the hard way. “It think we’re going to need some helping hands.”

 

Mick pinned Ray to the wall of Saints and Sinners by the throat.  
“Where’s my partner?”  
Ray struggled to speak. “That’s why we’re here.”  
Iris and Ray reached the pub with little fuss, but were immediately jumped by Snart’s crew who were eager to learn where their leader had gone.  
Mick glared at Ray before Lisa gave him a nod to release him. He dropped Ray but kept an eye on him as they turned their attentions to Iris.  
“This better be good,” Lisa warned them.  
Iris breathed a sigh of relief. At least they were willing to listen. “Snart is in prison and we want you to break him out.”  
Mick, Lisa, Hartley and Sara looked between each other before coming to the same silent conclusion.  
“This is a trick, right?” Sara asked.  
“We know it sounds crazy,” Ray said, only pausing when Mick gave him a look. “But we don’t have enough power to get him out with just the two of us. He’s your friend.”  
“Why do you want him free?” Sara asked. None of them knew why these royal guards would suddenly want one of their biggest criminals on the loose again.  
“We need him to help us find Barry,” Iris admitted and finally the looks of uncertainty became ones of concern.  
“Wait, what happened to Barry?” Lisa said.  
“We don’t know - that’s the problem.” Iris turned to Lisa, seeing her as their new leader while Snart was otherwise occupied. “Are you going to break him out then”  
“We’ll get him out regardless,” Lisa assured her. “The question is whether we can trust you two not to give us to the guards as soon as we try.”  
There was still a level of hostility in the air. Years of being on opposing sides of the law weren’t going to go away quickly. Yet, they had a common goal, something that connected them. Lisa and Iris looked at each other for a moment before Iris reached out a hand to her.  
“I guess you’ll have to follow us and find out.”

 

The tower was just as Barry had left it, but something was different. He thought it seemed smaller, darker despite the bright colours he had painted over the years. He sat on the ledge above the fireplace where he had sat not too long ago to paint the lanterns on the wall. This time the paints he had were black. At the bottom of the picture was a small section of forest, with the lights rising up above the trees. He had painted it how he had seen it from his window. Now, he painted the silhouette of two figures on the ground. Just as he finished, he looked at the two people watching the lights together. When it started to hurt to think about, he wished he hadn’t painted it there. He smudged it away with his hand in one quick movement. It left a streak of black paint across the bottom of the mural, and a dark stain on his hand. He glared at the paint on his palm. He supposed it was poetic, a reminder that he couldn’t truly be rid of the image of those two people in the forest.  
“Barry,” he heard his father call from Barry's room.  
Barry could have sped over, but felt too tired. Instead he gently jumped off of the ledge and slowly walked up the small set of stairs to his bedroom. He pulled back the curtain to his room and found his father there with a small pile of things on the bed.  
When Barry and Eobard had returned to the tower last night, Barry had thrown everything he’d collected on his journey on the floor, not wanting to look at them again. They were a reminder of things he’d lost: Books from Corona he no longer felt the excitement to read, new paints that seemed to lack their past brightness, and cruelest of all was a wanted poster they had torn down on their travels. He couldn’t bare to look again at the face on it.  
“Is this everything?” Thawne asked. He’d suggested that they pretend these events had never happened and Barry never left. That meant getting rid of anything from the outside that he shouldn’t have.  
Barry walked over to his bed and looked silently down at the small collection. After a moment of staring he sat down on the bed next to it, trying not to run his hand against the spines of the books as he did with the few he had in the tower. He didn’t want them to be destroyed just because they hurt to look at. He wished he had never picked them up instead.  
It wasn’t everything. He still had the small cloth with the golden sun of Corona on it in his pocket. Despite knowing this, he nodded. He couldn’t part with everything.  
Eobard sighed and picked up the small pile while Barry sat motionless. He carried the small pile to the door when Barry finally spoke.  
“Father?” His voice came out in more a whisper than words.  
Thawne turned to see Barry staring down at the bedroom floor, too nervous to look at him but clearly wanting something. He sighed and placed the items on the floor before turning back to Barry with an expecting look.  
“Before we, um…before he…” Barry heard himself and decided it was stupid. “Never-mind.”  
Eobard could tell it wasn’t nothing. He placed his hands on his hips and stared at Barry, waiting for him to continue. When his father didn’t move, Barry eventually spoke up.  
“Before he left,” Barry said, not saying the name, though they both knew there was only one person still on Barry’s mind. “He said I could stay with him if I wanted. That if I wanted, we could be together forever.”  
It wasn’t a surprise that Barry was thinking about this, but Eobard was slightly surprised that Snart would have actually offered it. By all accounts the man seemed to care for no one, except now Barry.  
After a moment, he asked, more to himself than his father, “Why would he lie like that?”  
Eobard shook his head before slowly seating himself next to Barry. The younger man kept his eyes on the floor as though he couldn’t look his father in the eye.  
“He just said whatever he could to make you give him the crown.”  
Barry was silent for a moment, and Eobard thought that he believed him, but then Barry spoke up again.  
“But I’d already given him the crown…he didn’t have to offer that. He didn’t have to-” _Get my hopes up, pretend to care, kiss me-_ “Why did he do that?”  
Thawne placed a hand on Barry’s shoulder, not looking him in the eye either. “Because people are cruel, Barry. People will say whatever it takes to keep hold of what they want. They’re selfish. The world out there isn’t made for people like you. It’s made of people who take.”  
Barry sniffed. He didn’t want to believe people were simply cruel. He didn’t want there to be no reason behind his hurt, just people wanting to be cruel.  
“The world is dark, and selfish, and cruel,” Eobard continued. “If it finds even the slightest ray of light, it destroys it. The people out there aren’t worthy of your love, Barry.”  
Barry tried to keep his emotions in check. Maybe they weren’t worth loving, but he gave his heart to willingly. He wished he didn’t. He choked out a reply before the tears stopped his words.  
“…I loved him.”  
Eobard squeezed Barry’s shoulder before the young man gave in and turned to cry into his father’s shoulder. He buried his face an cried as much as he could, hoping maybe his feeling would melt away with his tears. He knew they wouldn’t. Part of him knew he would never forget. It didn’t hurt to try though.  
Eobard didn’t move, just sat silently and waited for Barry to finish. The sooner he stopped wishing for the thief to come back, the sooner things in their home would return to what they were, what he thought they should be.  
When Barry’s breathing started to return to normal, Eobard told him he should try and get some rest. He hadn’t slept since getting to the tower the previous night. Barry didn’t trust himself to speak without it coming out in ragged breaths, so he nodded at Eobard’s suggestion. The older man got up and left Barry alone in his room, drawing the curtain so he could sleep in peace.  
Barry, however, just sat there. He was tired, but his eyes didn’t close. Instead, he reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out the small piece of cloth from Corona. It was a royal purple with the yellow sun of Corona sewn into it. The swirling rays of the sun and familiar pattern reminded him of things he’d rather forget. Though it would have been better to get rid of it with everything else, he couldn’t find it in himself to part with it.  
In frustration, he fell back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling of his room. It was painted in every space and every corner. Not a spec on the walls was plain. He gazed up at it, the swirls and patterns and signed. He didn’t focus on anything much, just glancing over everything aimlessly.  
Till he saw something. He stopped his gaze on a single point of the ceiling. Something was off about it. After a moment, he found himself looking back at the cloth in his hand, and back to the artwork. He glanced between the two. It couldn’t be.  
He sat up again, trying to look at it closer. Then he realised. It was because they were the same. He’d drawn the same shape into his roof without realising. He didn’t think it could be possible though. He had never seen it before when he’d painted it there.  
He rushed to his feet and looked at the rest of his room and found the sun shape again. Then again, and again. Hidden all across his ceiling, like the lanterns above him at night, was the Corona sun. It was overwhelming.  
It was like a memory. He’d seen the symbol of Corona before, somehow. It was just like when he thought he’d seen the faces of the King and Queen before. He shouldn’t know either. Unless he was from Corona.  
He froze. He knew the sun. He recognised the royal family; Joe even wanted him to meet them. The crown they made fit him perfectly. They lit lanterns on his birthday.  
The lost prince’s birthday. Barry remembered the mosaic, a child with his eyes, and the parents staring back at him.  
He knew the parents because they were his own.

 

Eobard heard a crash as Barry knocked into something in shock.  
“Barry, what’s going on up there?”  
The young man didn’t reply. He stood frozen.  
“Barry, what’s wrong?” Eobard stood at the bottom of the stairs.  
When Barry stepped out of room, it was tentative. He spoke softly, more to himself than the other man in the room. It was too much to take in.  
“I’m the lost prince.”  
Thawne rolled his eyes. “Barry I can’t hear you if you-”  
“I am the lost prince,” Barry repeated, this time so Thawne could hear. For the first time since getting back to the tower, he spoke without pain in his voice. Now his words were laced with anger he didn’t know he’d had. He finally looked the man he had called father in the eye. “Aren’t I?”  
Eobard started going white. “Barry…why would you ask something like that?”  
That was all the answer Barry needed. Eobard started walking up stairs towards him, but Barry kept at the top as far from him as he could.  
“That’s why you hid me here. It’s not to keep me safe, it’s to keep everyone from knowing what you did.” Suddenly, years of anger began to come to the surface. He dismissed it before, thinking he was acting any child would against an overbearing parent. Now though, he saw that everything had been lies. Thawne wasn’t a protective father, he was his captor. “You’re who I should have been hiding from.”  
Thawne stopped on the top step opposite Barry. The young man looked at him with such venom in his eyes. Eobard hoped it would never have had to come to this.  
“Everything I did was to protect you.”  
That only made the young man angrier. Barry shoved him to the side and started marching down the stairs in an effort to get away from him. Eobard only followed.  
“Protect me! You’re the one using me!”  
“Barry-” Thawne tried talking but Barry didn’t want to listen.  
“You just want to use my powers! I don’t know if you ever even cared about me!”  
Barry kept trying to walk away, but Eobard grabbed his arm. The young man glared up at his captor, no longer afraid to look him in the eye.  
“I’ve done more for you than you can know,” Eobard spat back at him, sick of trying to reason. Barry pulled his arm free and started walking to the window as though to leave. Eobard knew he wasn’t getting out though. “Where would you go, Barry? To the parents you barely know?”  
Barry tried not to listen anymore, but Eobard knew what to say to get him to stop.  
“And I already got rid of that criminal you love.”  
Barry stopped dead in his tracks. Leonard. He didn't leave him. He turned back to Thawne and saw in his face that it was true. It was Barry’s turn to turn white.  
“What did you do to him?”  
Eobard smiled a little, finally having Barry fear him again. “I couldn’t have his affection for you getting in the way. So, I made sure he’ll get what he deserves.”  
Barry was frozen to the spot and Eobard used the opportunity to get closer to him and remind him just how alone he was. “He’s to be hanged.”  
Barry couldn’t breathe. Time seemed to slow as he realised what that really meant. Len loved him. He loved him and now they were going to kill him. He couldn’t bare to lose him like that. It had hurt to think he didn’t care, but it was torture to think of him dying because he loved him.  
“…I can stop it. I can run there in time.” He spoke more to himself than Thawne. He turned and, with a surge of lighting he didn’t know he still had, was at the window in seconds.  
Then he hit something. He’d run into Thawne who was now in front of him, blocking the window leading out of the tower. Barry stared. Thawne had been behind him. He turned to run away, but Thawne was there too now.  
Thawne was moving faster than he was. He was moving at speeds Barry didn’t know he could, and doing it in a flash of red lightning.  
Red. Barry stared at Eobard in shock for a moment before slowly looking back down at the red scars on his arm. Thawne told him it was from his own lighting acting up when someone had tried to take him as a child. It had caught him as odd when told. His lighting was yellow. But now he saw the real person who stole him, and how they moved in a flash of red.  
Barry was terrified. “You’ve been harnessing the speedforce from me.”  
“Little by little, yes.” Eobard watched him like a creature in the dark watches it’s prey. “You know I can’t let you leave now, Barry.”  
They locked eyes. The monsters Barry had been warned about had been beside him the whole time. They hadn’t been outside in the world, but in the tower with him.  
He tried to run, but wasn’t fast enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for cliff hanger!!!!  
> This fic probs has about 2 (maybe 3) chapters left now so buckle in for the big finale.


	14. And At Last I See The Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a race against the clock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOOOOOH HERE WE GO, SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER KIDS

When the time came for Leonard’s scheduled hanging, he hadn’t given up yet. A guard was on each of his arms marching him through a corridor in the castle dungeon, escorting him to the courtyard. He kept his head down, but his eyes on the cells lining the corridor. He watched for a way out. He’d broken out of prisons before, but normally he’d had more than a day to plan his escape. He wasn’t so lucky this time.  
One of the guards was explaining to him how the hanging would happen but Len wasn’t listening. The logistics of the event weren't his concern, just how he was going to avoid it.  
Then he passed the Mardons’ cell. It was just a glance, seeing them sat before guards kept pushing him on, but it was enough. He stopped walking for a second to throw the guards off. He head-butted one who fell, allowing him to better elbow the other in the face. With both down, even for a minute, he moved to the cell in a second.  
“Snart,” Clyde, sat leaning against the bars, rolled his eyes, “Fancy seeing you-”  
Len grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him forcefully against the bars so they were face to face.  
“How did you know about him?” He was yelling more than asking. “What did you do to him?”  
Clyde just started laughing. He didn’t seem to care what Len wanted, satisfied to leave him clueless. Snart was about to smack Clyde’s head against the bars again, when he finally got an answer.  
“He got away,” Mark spoke up from within the cell. He sighed and decided it wasn’t worth hiding the truth, and if he could get back at Thawne for betraying them, the better. “This old man in the forest knew the kid. He told us about him but left us on the beach and both were gone when we got found.”  
Len wanted to thank him, caught off guard by Mark’s unprompted honesty, when some guards finally grabbed him again. He had three yanking him off the ground and shoving him through the corridors in a second. He tried fighting them off, but wasn’t going to get anywhere. He was too outnumbered.  
He thought it through. If the man who took Barry knew him, then it had to be his father. No one but the two of them knew about Barry’s powers, and he certainly wouldn’t tell the brothers. If it was his father, then they would be back at the tower, but if this man was as manipulative as Barry’s past made him out to be, then he wouldn’t be there for long.  
Then, with a slam, they stopped. Len was pulled from his thoughts and registered where they were. It was one of the castle corridors away from the dungeons. It was small, but most tellingly had no open exits. All the doors out of the space were closed. At now he knew why they’d stopped. Someone had closed them in.  
One of the guards looked to the closed door in front of them that had been open just a second ago. Leaving the remaining two guards to hold Len on each side, he walked over to it. He pulled on the handle, but nothing happened.  
“Open up!” He yelled, and banged a fist against the wood.  
Then the small window in the door opened.  
“What’s the password?” Hartley asked and closed the window.  
All four people stared at the door.   
“What?”  
Hartley opened up again when the guard spoke. “That’s not it.”  
He closed the window. Len laughed, not because his friend was particularly funny, but out of disbelief that his friend was here at all.  
“Open this door!” The guard commended.  
Hartley pulled open the window. “Not even close.”  
When it shut again, the guard turned back to the other, equally confused men and their smirking convict. With none really sure what to do, the guard tried opening the door again. Once he was close, the door forcefully pushed open, smashing into the guard’s face and making him fall unconscious. Then Len felt the two guards next to him also fall unconscious, their grip on him released.  
He turned his head and was relieved to see Sara and Mick behind him, having sent the guards to sleep. The door in front fully opened and out walked Hartley, followed by Lisa. He didn’t waste a second in running to hug her.  
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said despite holding her tight, clearly glad that she was there. “It’s not safe.”  
She buried her face in his shoulder before pulling away. “We weren’t going to let you get yourself killed. We’d be lousy friends if we did that.”  
He felt Mick place a hand on his shoulder and it was a small comfort. He stared at his companions for a moment. It was a stupid thing to come, wander into the lion’s den for him, but he could admit to himself that he was glad to see them. Thinking he was going to be marched to his death had made him miss them…not that he’d tell them that.   
“So, you ready for another prison break?” Mick asked.  
Len smirked. “Always.”  
Soon, from the way Len had come, banging could be heard on the other side of the locked door.   
“We need to move,” Sara said and the group opened the opposite door and all started what they always seemed to do: run.

The castle was a maze. Len raced down the endless passages with Lisa and his friends leading. They all seemed to have a plan, and for once he was following them instead of being the leader. With so much on the line he was satisfied this once to trust their plan.   
As they sprinted with the guards hot their heels, Hartley diverted off course. Len skidded to try and stop and go after him, but Mick’s brute strength yanked him forward and kept him running.  
“Hey-” He tried to yell to Lisa who was leading, but got distracted when Sara went off course too. He kept running, but saw some of the guards run after her and away from them. Not all, but a few. Then Mick did the same, and Len noticed a pattern. They were splitting up to give them less people to run away from. Only Lisa and Len were left together.  
“Get ready,” Lisa said to him and then she turned a sharp corner and the pair reached a wall.   
“We’re trapped-” Len growled before Lisa pushed the wall and it started opening. A secret passage.  
She raced through and Len was quick to follow, pushing the doorway closed before the guards round the corner and saw. He froze on the other side, waiting to see if anyone else knew about the hidden entrance, but no one came through.   
He breathed a sigh of relief when Lisa tapped him on the shoulder. She smiled at him and ushered him along with a gesture of the head. On the other side of the wall was a small passage, a staircase unlit and twirling upwards into the darkness unknown. Lisa walked through unfazed and Len had few options but to follow her into the darkness. When the staircase ended, it was at another wall.  
Lisa knocked twice on the wall and after a second it opened. Len wanted to roll his eyes at who he saw open it.  
“You’re both in on this too?” He asked Iris and Ray who looked back at him.  
“It’s a surprise to us too, don’t worry,” Ray replied, pulling them into the light. The passage opened up into a tower on the top of the castle battlements.   
“There’s horses on the edge of the forest waiting for us.” Iris explained. She pulled out some weapons, handing Len two daggers and a sword. We just need to help Barry and then your friends will get released. It’s most likely they’ve been caught by now.”  
Len didn’t like this. “This is an awful plan. The others better be safe for when we get back.”  
Lisa placed a hand on his shoulder. “I think that depends on you.”

 

The four of them made it through most of the city without being spotted, till they reached the bridge between the forest and the kingdom. They were halfway over when the first figure appeared. A guard cam into view at the forest end of the bridge. Then another joined them and when more came into view, Iris stopped them. The group froze upon seeing them. Ray turned to see guards filling up the way they came.  
“We’re surrounded.”  
The Snart siblings looked between the collections of guards drawing closer and each tried to think of a way out of this.   
“I don’t think we’re fighting our way out of this,” Len said.  
The guards drew closer, one or two starting to talk to Ray and Iris in an attempt to get them to hand the siblings over. Lisa and Len started to feel pushed to the edge of the bridge, cornered.  
Then they hid the edge of the bridge with the guards circling the four of them.  
Lisa turned to Len. He looked back at saw a determination in her eyes. She had a plan. “Sorry about this.”  
Len didn’t have time to ask what she was sorry for. With a final burst of energy, she pushed him off the bridge.

 

The water was cold and hit him with full force. It wasn’t a long fall, but long enough to plunge him into the water’s depths. Struggling against the weight of the weapons at his waist, he kicked himself up to the surface eventually and broke the water’s surface, looking back up at the bridge. The guards had grabbed Lisa and the others. He could hear the officers yelling after him.  
He tried catching him breath before swimming to land. The would start scouting the water’s edge so he had to hurry.  
It didn’t take long to get to land, an edge of forest away from the bridge. He didn’t waste time in drying off and instead rushed into the trees.  
It wasn’t long before he found the horses that Iris had left for them to escape on. He saddled up on the closest and started speeding off into the woods. He’d have to go it alone.

 

When Len got to the tower, storm clouds were gathering. It didn’t look like the luscious safe haven he’d found the first time he’d been there. It looked more like what it truly was, a prison. He jumped off his horse the second he reached the bottom of the tower and hoped against reason that if he yelled he would hear Barry’s voice.  
“Barry!” He shouted upwards but no sound came back. He swiftly pulled the daggers from his belt and used them to climb up the edge of the tower, lodging the blade into the cracks in the brick. He pulled himself up the length of the tower till he felt his fingers graze the wood of the windowsill. He left the daggers in the brick to hoist himself into the darkness of the tower.  
“Barry?” He called again once his feet him the floor of the tower interior and froze.  
Barry was on the other side of the room in chains. He was tied to one of the banisters, hands behind his back and a gag stopping him from talking. He was trying to yell to him, but no words came out. It only took a second to see the look of horror Barry gave him.  
Then he felt a blade go straight into his side. He heard himself yell before collapsing onto the floor in front of the window. He clutched at his wound, feeling the blood sticking to his hand. He tried turning to see the culprit and saw Thawne glaring down at him, dagger in hand.  
Barry tried screaming and pulled a the chains but it was of little use. He couldn’t move.  
“Now look what you’ve done, Barry,” Thawne looked at Snart where he bled on the floor. He stepped over the man to walk back to Barry, making sure to kick him while he was down. “Don’t worry. Our secret will die with him.”  
Barry kept trying to pull away, gather any remaining strength he had, but it never felt like enough. He’d had so much of the speedforce drained out of him that it felt like there was nothing left to fall back on.   
“As for us,” Thawne reached the chains and untied them from the banister, holding them in his hands. “We’re going where no one will ever find us again.”  
Barry felt the manacles rubbing at his wrists but kept fighting. He tried to breathe, find any of the speedforce still left in him, but it was distant, a small spark he could barely reach. He could barely feel it now, but had to keep trying.   
Thawne tried pulling him away from where Snart was lying, but the young man kept fighting him. “Barry, enough!”  
He gave a final pull, and fell back. The weight on the chains was gone, and he followed them to see Barry, free.  
Barry stumbled, wide eyed, onto the ground in front of him, the manacles no longer round his wrists. He turned round to see Thawne staring back at him with equal shock. The chains were still locked. He hadn’t broken the lock. He’d phased through.  
Barry didn’t have time to think what that meant. Instead he turned back to what really mattered.  
“Len!” He raced to Snart's side, not being fast enough to escape anymore. Instead he sat next to Len and held his face in his hands. “I’m so sorry.”  
He looked over Len and found the wound easily where it stained his clothes red. He placed a hand over it.  
“Barry." Thawne tried speaking to him, wondering how Barry had been able to phase through the chains. It was a speedster ability he had only read about, never thinking Barry would be strong enough to do it himself.  
Barry didn’t listen. He just shushed Len’s winces and tried to sing away the wounds. The melody just came out shaky and fast and Barry tried to get through the words as quickly as possible. “It gonna be okay - _flower gleam and glow, l-let you power…shine…”_  
It didn’t do anything. Barry felt his hands shaking but his focus was on Len and how the colour was fading from his cheeks. He was trying to speak but didn’t have much energy left.  
“Why isn’t it working?” He said to himself first, before turning with fear in his eyes to Thawne. “Why can’t I help him?”  
Eobard stood up and looked over at the boy who sat on the edge of tears. Barry couldn’t run. He might as well indulge him. “You don’t have enough of the speedforce left to help him.”  
Barry had felt the force leaving him, but didn’t want to believe he had no way of helping Len. It was too heartbreaking a thought.  
“…You can save him though.”  
Eobard paused. Barry shakily got to his feet to look Thawne in the eye. “You took what I had of the speedforce, so you can heal him, right?”  
Thawne stayed silent. He could see where Barry was going with this trail of thought. “If I could, why should I?”  
Barry swallowed the lump in his throat. “Because I will never fighting. I will never stop trying to get away from you. But…If you heal him, I will go with you.”  
He saw Thawne narrow his eyes, trying to assess if Barry truly meant it, but the voice that intervened was at his feet.  
“Barry,” Len winced trying to sit up. “Don’t do this.”  
Barry had to fight every pull of his heart not to look down at Len. “I will never run, never try to escape. We can be together, just like you want…Just _save him.”_  
Eobard seemed to start to believe him. Barry had too much heart to let someone die, especially someone he loved. The tears in his eyes were too genuine. After an agonising moment, he finally spoke.  
“Stay with me, and I’ll let him live.”  
Barry released a breath didn’t realise he’d been holding and collapsed again next to Len, quick to put his attention back to him. He cradled Len’s body in his arms.  
“You’re gonna be alright. It’s all going to be okay.”  
Len grabbed his arm as best he could. He looked in agony, more at what Barry was forced to do that the pain in his side. If Barry agreed to do this, it was like a death sentence. Len wasn’t going to condemn Barry to that, not for his sake. “Barry…I can’t let you do this.”  
Barry finally stopped fussing and looked him in the eye. He knew Len didn’t want to live at his expense, but in Barry’s eyes, he would give anything to let him live. “And I can’t let you die.”  
Eobard saw the lovers holding each other and decided it was time to end it. Len saw him walking over and came to a decision of his own.  
“I’m sorry,” he quietly said to Barry, squeezing his arm in both an act of comfort, and to stop him from interfering in what was going to happen next. Barry didn’t think he had anything to apologise for.  
Eobard approached, looming over the pair on the floor. Then, just when he was about to stop at Len’s feet, Snart kicked out.  
Thawne tripped. He lost balance and fell back, except nothing was there to stop him but the window.  
Barry realised Len’s plan too late. He heard a yell, turned, and saw Thawne thrown out the window.   
For a horrifying moment, there was nothing, then a thud. He’d hit the ground.

There was no further sound. Barry just heard the silence as the man he’d called father and jailor laid dead at the foot of the tower. He didn’t know how to feel.  
Then he turned back to Len. He had used what little strength he’d had to trip up Thawne and now laid with no energy left.  
Barry rushed to hold him again. “Len? Please don’t - Len look at me, please!”  
He held his face in his hands but couldn’t get a response from him. He’d destroyed his only chance at living in order to save him. He’d stopped Barry from giving his life away, by giving away his own first.  
“Why would you - no, Lenny please stay with me. I’m here, just stay with me!”  
He felt panicked, till a hand reached up and held his face in return. Len managed to crack his eyes open and see Barry looking back at him.   
He could barely speak, but still had something to tell him. “You were my new dream.”  
Barry smiled through the aching pain in his chest. “And you were mine.”  
And then Len’s eyes closed. Barry felt the hand holding his face lose it’s life and fall back to the floor. He sat frozen for a moment. The panic, the desperation he’d felt trying to keep him alive, vanished in a second. All that was left was an overwhelming grief.  
He kept Len in his arms, oddly remembering the last time they had been sat there together. He remembered when Len had found him here the first time, the curiosity, awe at having him there. Only this time, Len wasn’t waking up.  
Barry did the only thing he could think of with nothing left.  
_“Heal what has been hurt, change the fates’ design."_ He sniffed away tears with little effect and laid his forehead against Len’s in at attempt to hold him closer. He choked through the words, hoping they could really bring back what once was his. _“Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine. What once was mine.”_  
His tears fell onto Len’s face but he didn’t care. He just held him. He didn’t want this freedom if he didn’t have Leonard to spend it with. He wanted his love back.

Then he saw light. He cracked open his eyes and saw yellow light begin surround him. At first it was unfamiliar, then he saw the way it crackled, sparked and floated around him, and it felt like being returned to an old friend. The speedforce. It had come back.  
He closed his eyes and felt the force sink back into his skin, a feeling like air returning to his lungs. It fell back into place within his bloodstream and raced through his soul as though bringing him back to life.  
Then he opened him eyes. It wasn’t just there to save him. His tears resting on Len’s cheeks suddenly glowed and sank into his skin in a swirl of gold. Barry looked down at the wound in Len’s side and saw it begin to glow the same, a cascade of yellow bursting from it. It filled the room with light and Barry just sat in awe of it, the colour rising up and surrounding them.   
The the yellow began to fade, like trails of smoke into the air, leaving the tower in it’s original darkness.  
Barry held his breath. He waited in the silence for a moment. Then he gently looked over to the wound and found it was no longer there, the drying blood the only sign that Len had been hurt.  
Barry held Len close and prayed for his hopes to be true. Then, as though hearing them, Len began to open his eyes again. He grumbled with the spinning of his head but gently opened his eyes.  
“Barry?”  
Barry’s heart felt fit to burst. “Len?”  
“You broke the rules.” Len managed to open his eyes completely and couldn't help a smile. “I told you to be careful not to fall in love with me, hot stuff.”  
Barry laughed and wrapped his arms around Len, holding him as tight as he could. He felt such joy to feel Len hug him back, to have him back. He breathed him in, burying his face in his shoulder and not letting go. When Barry release him, it was to look at him and be sure he wasn't dreaming. But Len smiled back at him, equally amazed.  
Barry couldn’t contain his happiness. He leaned forward and kissed him, knowing he had very little experience, but wanting him all the same. Len seemed to feel the same as he held Barry’s face in return and kissed him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW this chapter took a while to get into but YAY ARE BABIES ARE HAPPY!!! Only one more chapter of this left to tie up all the loose ends and make the happily ever after as happy as possible. Basically the next chapter is pure fluff. You all deserve it.
> 
> As for what's next? I've been thinking and the next Disney coldflash is....Robin Hood! odd choice? It's actually one of my favourite Disney movies and fav stories in general. I have family from Nottingham, I've dressed as Maid Marian as a child and I've got so many ideas for this fanfic based on both the Disney movie and other Robin Hood adaptations. It fits Coldflash pretty well actually: Len as the dashing thief and rogue on the run from the law, and Barry as the upper class lord everyone admires, and the forbidden love story while trying to free the people of Nottingham with the Rogues as the merry men! It's perfect! 
> 
> Anyway comment and leave kudos, this one's nearly complete! x


	15. Something That I Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DID SOMEONE ORDER CHEESE WITH THEIR FANFIC???????  
> Also if ya really want feels try listening to 'I see the light' or 'a thousand years' while reading  
> this is pure untainted fluff so enjoy

“His name is Barry,” Joe said, patting Henry on the shoulder before leaving the royals alone.  
The King turned to his wife and saw the nerves in her expression. They stood in front of the closed door that led to the palace balcony that looked over the city. On the other side, according to Joe, was their son.  
He felt nervous too. It was so much to comprehend, how their prayers were about to be answered. They just had to take a leap and hope there was something there to catch them. They just had to step through the door and hope that, despite everything they’d been through, their son stood on the other side.  
Henry leaned out with a shaking hand and held Nora’s hand. He wasn’t sure if it was to support her or himself, perhaps both. She turned to him and, beneath the fear, he could see hope in her eyes. He returned it with a smile before each turned back to the wooden door in front of them.  
They pushed it open.

On the other side, they saw two people. They stood on the other side of the balcony, frame by the vibrant blue sky. They broke from each other’s gaze to look at the royals when they entered.  
One of the figures was easy to recognise; Leonard Snart’s face had been on wanted posters all through the kingdom. It was, however, the other figure that the pair couldn’t take their eyes off.  
The young man looked at them with the same level of fear and hope. He gently walked away from Snart to edge closer to the pair, stopping when he was stood facing them, but leaving enough room for them to move to him in return.  
They looked at each other in amazement. It was as though seeing something for the first time which you’d only ever seen in a painting. It was close to what you’d imagined, but not exact. It was the things that made them different that made them perfect though.  
The queen was the first of the pair to move out of the daze. She gracefully stepped down the small set on stairs from the doorway and walked with hesitation towards the young man. She edged closer and saw more and more how he resembled her husband when they’d met.  
She stopped in front of him and he looked back at her with the same air of wonder. Barry could see the likeness from her mosaic, but it didn’t catch her, not really. The art had shown a queen, a woman regal and benevolent. Instead he saw her age, her weariness from years of loss, and the warmth in her eyes. She looked like a mother. He’d never had a mother.  
He smiled. Nora couldn’t stifle her small gasp. She’d seen that smile before: in her mirror, and her dreams.  
All at once the pair closed the gap and wrapped their arms around each other. She held him as though he would be swept away again if she let go. Barry let her hold him as tight as she could.  
Then he cracked open his eyes and looked over her shoulder to see the King just behind her. They both saw the hint of tears in the other’s eyes. Henry released a laugh and reached out to wrap his arms around his wife and son. The three embraced and the rest of the world felt small, each of them finding a piece that was missing.  
Leonard smiled at the sight. When Barry told him his true parentage, it was a surprise at first, but then seemed the most obvious thing. Of all the people in the world, of course his Barry would turn out to be a prince. He wandered if he should leave them be when Queen Nora opened her eyes. She saw the way he smiled at Barry and she recognised the look of someone in love. She gently untangled an arm and reached out to Leonard. He looked surprised at first, not expecting to be acknowledged, but took her hand for a handshake. He didn’t expect her to pull him in to join their hug.

 

The celebrations to welcome the prince's return were greater than anything the kingdom had see before. Barry was quickly the centre of attention and adored by the masses. He wandered through the city the day after his return and spoke to so many people it was difficult to keep track. Though the people were plentiful, he loved speaking to each of them.  
He sat on a bench listening to Cisco sing and entertain a group of kids with his brother accompanying on piano. It was a moment of peace amongst the wildness. His whole life was changing, certainly for the better but it was still a lot to adjust to.  
The crown on his head was another thing to adjust to. After Iris and Ray’s release and scolding for freeing Len, they had returned the crown to it’s original owner, though Barry was still getting used to being it’s owner.  
“Barry!” He heard and turned to see Leonard approaching with his rabble of friends in tow. Lisa didn’t wait and rushed over to say hello, trapping him in a hug.  
“Fancy you being a prince,” she teased once releasing him from a hug.  
He laughed in return, greeting each of the rogues again. Joe had explained to the King and Queen that Snart knew the location of their son and he needed a pardon and release, but the surprise prison break had thrown a spanner in the works. Still, it made it easier to get them released afterwards. Soon, Sara and Hartley were pulling the other rogues off to see the festivities, leaving Len to sit on the bench next to Barry.  
“Here’s what West had been working on,” Len said and showed Barry a piece of parchment. He unravelled it and let Barry read.  
“‘A full pardon for Leonard Snart signed by their majesties, Captain of the Guard, Raymond Palmer and Security to the King, Joe West.’ Well deserved I’d say.”  
Len smirked at for a moment. When Joe had handed it to him he’d been surprised by it. He knew he’d be thanked, but having him and his friends freed from the law was something he didn’t think Joe would be able to do, nor want to do. He guessed that Joe had surprised him, just as Len had surprised him too. Still, Joe’s last words to him sat at the back of his mind.

_“You can do a lot with this freedom. Open a business, join the guard,” Len scoffed at the idea of being a royal guard, but Joe continued, “or marry a prince.”_  
_That made Len stop. “We haven’t even approached anywhere close to that topic of conversation.”  
_ _Joe just smiled. “No, but after everything that’s happened, I don’t think that kid is going to let you go.”_

The thought was only interrupted by Cisco and Dante starting up another song, which sent a cheer through the gathered crowd.  
Barry turned to Len with a raised eyebrow. “Do you still not dance?”  
Len sighed. He’d done a lot of things he wouldn’t normally do since meeting Barry, including dancing twice already. Maybe good things really did come in threes after all.  
He rolled his eyes and let Barry pull him up to dance.

_Some Time Later_

“Please stop fussing, Lisa. I look fine.”  
Lisa rolled her eyes and continued to handle Barry’s mess of hair. “You grew up in a forest. People this side of civilisation try not to look like wild animals.”  
Barry laughed. She finished his hair and stepped back to take in Barry’s whole outfit. The white suit and crown made him shine and he worried about blinding everyone. Lisa on the other hand told him he looked great.  
She picked up her basket of flower petals and gave him a final nod of encouragement. She started leaving when Barry stopped her.  
“Lisa?” She turned back with a sly smile. “Do you remember when we met?”  
“Of course. You weren’t someone easily forgotten, and I say that in the best way.”  
He smiled at the memory. “You remember when I was asking people about their dreams?”  
“I think so. What did I say I wanted?”  
"To be a princess.” She suddenly brightened up, remembering how she’d teased him. “Well I know it was a joke, but if all goes well today…I don’t know what title that gives you but…”  
She just started laughing. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before adjusting her dress and walking into the main room where everyone was gathered.  
Barry heard the whispers and excitement in the room from the doorway where he stood. He was waiting round the corner and just out of sight. He turned to a mirror against the wall and looked at Lisa’s handiwork. He had to admit he looked better with her help. His suit was pristine, with the sun of Corona pinned to his sash. The crown sat amongst his brown hair and shone just as it had when he’d first found it.  
“Ready, kiddo?”  
Barry turned away from the mirror to see Henry, his father, stood in the doorway. He held an arm out ready to guide him in. The pair shared a smile and Barry stepped away from the mirror to take his arm. 

The second Barry came into view at the end of the great hall, every head turned. Len couldn’t take his eyes off him either from where he stood at the altar. Lisa was by his side as flower girl, watching him instead of Barry to catch the way he looked at him.  
Father and son walked down the aisle and Barry struggled not to wave at each familiar face he passed. They’d try to cram in as many people as possible, Barry being friends with most of the common people by now and Len knowing a variety of ex-criminals.  
Barry reached the end of the aisle and his father left to join his mother in the front row. Len leaned a hand out, which Barry took, and guided him up the small set of stairs to reach the altar. The pair stood face to face took each other’s hands.  
Both were too lost looking at each other to give the priest a nod that they were ready, so he began.  
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Prince Bartholomew Allen and Leonard Snart in marriage.”  
The ceremony continued, with many messages of unity and love, but Barry and Len were looking at each other, sharing a wordless conversation and ignoring all the people watching. Their lives were rarely private anymore, but they were the talking point of the kingdom so it wasn’t a surprise. The marriage of the lost crown prince and infamous criminal turned hero was a spectacle to be admired, but to each other they were just themselves.  
The ceremony went on, each speaking ‘I do’ when required to a series of awes from the congregation. Iris passed them their rings, Barry and her having grown close since his return. They each placed a matching gold band on the other person’s finger.  
“I now pronounce you husband and husband,” the priest announced, “you may kiss.”  
Before Len could even move, Barry beat him to it and rushed into a kiss. Len was left laughing into it and holding Barry in return while a series of cheers rang on.

 

Len wandered into their bedroom after the feast that evening to find Barry sat on the edge of their bed. He held a delicate lantern in hand and was painting as he often did.  
Leonard stood in the doorway for a moment watching him before softly interrupting his silent art. “Everyone’s ready when you are.”  
Barry looked up and smiled to see his now husband. “It’s nearly done. Tell me what you think?”  
Len walked over to the bed and sat down next to him to have a look at the picture he was painting into the lantern. It was two flowers, in the style of the one that granted Barry his powers, but they were one of scarlet and one of blue. Len knew what they meant, but the public would just see a pattern. It could be something just for them.  
“It looks wonderful,” he said, giving Barry a kiss on the forehead before walking to the small balcony attached to their room. He opened the doors to see the view of the Corona streets. Lanterns filled the pathways and squares. They had once been a symbol of loss and hoping for return, now they were for their wedding, a symbol of love.  
Barry soon came to join him, lantern lit in his hand, and the pair walked out onto the balcony for the people to see. Faces from beneath turned to smile up at them, waiting for the to launch the first lantern. They each held it in one hand, using the other to hold their partner’s hand.  
Then with a small push they let it float into the night sky, followed soon by the lanterns of the people rising past them. Barry leaned into Len’s side and the couple watched their painted lantern float up.  
“I love you,” Barry whispered.  
Len wrapped an arm around Barry’s shoulders. “I love you, too.”

_It's so easy to make believe, It seems you're livin' in a dream  
Don't you see that what you need is standing in front of you?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and it's done! thanks to everyone who's left kudos or commented, I wouldn't be able to keep this going without your comments so thanks from the bottom of my heart.
> 
> Next up in my Disney Coldflash canon is Robin Hood! That should be starting soonish so have no fear. Hope y'all enjoyed and weren't too sickened by this sugary sweet mess of a finish x


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